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| 5 | [[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/MarioKart8 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_c2u6n8musaajhdj.png]]]] |
| 6 | [[caption-width-right:350:''"Mario Kart, here we go!"'']] |
| 7 | |
| 8 | ->''"Welcome to Mario Kart!"'' |
| 9 | -->-- '''The man in red himself''', ''VideoGame/MarioKart64''[[note]]The Japanese version has a crowd of children shouting "Mario Kart!"[[/note]] |
| 10 | |
| 11 | ''Mario Kart'' is a successful series of go-kart video games developed by Creator/{{Nintendo}} as a series of spin-offs from their trademark and highly successful ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]'' series of platformer adventure-style video games. Starting on the SNES, the series has graced every subsequent Nintendo console and handheld with at least one installment, with the exception of the Platform/VirtualBoy and the Platform/GameBoyColor (portable ''Mario Karts'' started appearing with the Platform/GameBoyAdvance). |
| 12 | |
| 13 | Unlike more serious racing game series such as ''VideoGame/DaytonaUSA'', ''VideoGame/GranTurismo'', ''VideoGame/{{Forza}}'', or even ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'', ''Mario Kart'' isn't just about driving technique, but mixes things up with items that racers can obtain from item boxes, while the tracks themselves can have a significant number of obstacles and hazards such as enemies from the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series of games. The series is credited for kicking off the subgenre of {{Mascot Racer}}s beginning with the 1990s, as other companies have often imitated the concept with their own mascots to varying degrees of success, with notable competition like ''VideoGame/CrashTeamRacing'', ''[[VideoGame/SegaSuperstars Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed]]'', and ''VideoGame/NickelodeonKartRacers''. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | As the name implies, the games draw major inspiration from the ''Mario'' platformers. Racers are characters like Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Wario, Waluigi, Donkey Kong, Toad and even [[GoKartingWithBowser Bowser]], items are Koopa shells and mushrooms, and stages often visit major locales like Bowser's Castle or a haunted mansion. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | Aside from racing for the finish line, all games in the series have also feature a Battle Mode, where the players drive around in a fixed area and attempt to burst each other's balloons with items or hunt for coins or Shine Sprites (from ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine Sunshine]]''). |
| 18 | |
| 19 | !! Games in this series |
| 20 | [[AC:Main Series]][[index]] |
| 21 | * '''''VideoGame/SuperMarioKart''''' ([[Platform/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]], 1992): The original. Has 8 characters and 20 courses, organized into 4 cups with 5 tracks each. Uses "Mode 7" for its graphics, so all the courses are completely flat save for some rare obstacles. |
| 22 | * '''''VideoGame/MarioKart64''''' (Platform/{{Nintendo 64}}, 1996): First use of actual 3D, and set the standards for much of the series: it organized its 16 courses into 4 cups with 4 tracks each, established the usual eight-character starting roster,[[note]]Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach, Bowser, DK, Toad, and Wario. ''Super'' used DK Jr. and Koopa Troopa instead of DK and Wario.[[/note]] and introduced Mirror Mode (known as "Extra" mode in this game). |
| 23 | * '''''VideoGame/MarioKartSuperCircuit''''' (Platform/GameBoyAdvance, 2001): Has 8 characters again and 20 new courses, 5 cups with 4 courses each. Went back to the Mode 7 flat courses due to the GBA's hardware limitations. It also includes all the courses from ''Super'' (reordered into 5 cups of 4), beginning the tradition of including a set of [[NostalgiaLevel retro courses]] to match the new ones. The only main installment developed by Creator/IntelligentSystems, the people that brought you ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblem''. |
| 24 | * '''''VideoGame/MarioKartDoubleDash''''' (Platform/NintendoGameCube, 2003): Features two characters per kart -- one driver, one "gunner", allowing the player to stock two items simultaneously and swap characters at will. It also returns to the standard 16 courses arranged in 4 cups, but does not include any retro courses (instead, it features a unique All-Cup Tour where racers go through all 16 existing tracks). The first game to allow players to pick their drivers and kart separately, as well as having the first unlockable characters for a total of 20 (one being [[DistaffCounterpart Toadette]], who makes her debut here), and character-specific "special" items. It's also rather famous for its pre-order bonus disc. |
| 25 | * '''''VideoGame/MarioKartDS''''' (Platform/NintendoDS, 2005): Has 12 characters with 3 karts apiece; and 32 courses -- 16 new courses and 16 returning. Also marks a landmark in Nintendo history as being the company's first foray into online multiplayer gaming.[[note]]At least internationally; the Japanese release of ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Pokémon Crystal]]'' had online battling as well.[[/note]] A special mode exclusive to this game, Mission Mode, has the player meeting special objectives in the tracks, including boss battles. |
| 26 | * '''''VideoGame/MarioKartWii''''' (Platform/{{Wii}}, 2008): Has 24 characters plus the player's UsefulNotes/{{Mii}} and, again, 32 courses in four new cups and four retro cups. It allows a massive 12 characters on the track at once, features a selection of motorbikes in addition to the usual karts, a "Wii Wheel" attachment for motion-control steering, and fully-featured online multiplayer. |
| 27 | * '''''VideoGame/MarioKart7''''' (Platform/Nintendo3DS, 2011): Has 16 characters plus your Mii and the now-standard 32 courses (16 old/16 new), but races are reduced back to 8 racers at once (likely due to the 3DS being unable to handle 12 players). Courses now include underwater racing and launch ramps for gliding through the air, and the player can fully customize their kart with individual selections of driver, chassis, wheels, and glider. Co-developed by Creator/RetroStudios (the people who brought you ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' and ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns''), and includes the same improved online features from ''Mario Kart Wii''. |
| 28 | * '''''VideoGame/MarioKart8''''' (Platform/WiiU, 2014): Has 36 characters including Miis and DLC. The base game also features the usual 32 courses in 8 cups, split evenly between old and new; but DLC adds 4 additional four-course cups (7 old courses, 9 new) for a total of 48 courses. The bikes and 12-character races from ''Wii'' and the gliding and underwater mechanics from ''7'' return, as well as introducing [=ATVs=] and a new anti-gravity mechanic. Features crossover characters Link from ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' and Isabelle and the Villager from ''Franchise/AnimalCrossing'' as DLC. 200cc is introduced as a fourth speed class, pushing the race to breakneck speeds. Toys/{{amiibo}} support is introduced, which unlocks cosmetic themed costumes for Miis — including Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog, VideoGame/{{Mega Man|Classic}}, and Pac-Man.[[/index]] |
| 29 | ** '''''Mario Kart 8 Deluxe''''' (Platform/NintendoSwitch, 2017): An UpdatedRerelease of ''Mario Kart 8'', with the main feature being an improved Battle Mode after the original ''8''[='s=] was scaled back. ''Deluxe'' also includes all of ''8''[='s=] DLC on the game card, rebalancing of characters and karts, the ability to carry two items at once, a brand-new third level of mini-turbo boost, and an expanded roster of 42 characters including the Inklings from ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}''. It later received its own DLC expansion in 2022-2023, featuring 3 new tracks and 45 more returning tracks (including all but one introduced in ''Tour'') thereby doubling the total track count to 96, as well as eight new characters for a roster of 50. |
| 30 | [[index]] |
| 31 | * '''''VideoGame/MarioKartTour''''' ([[UsefulNotes/IOSGames iOS]] and {{UsefulNotes/Android|Games}}, 2019): A mobile entry in the series with simplified controls and [[LootBoxes gacha]] elements for acquiring characters and karts. It also features new tracks based on real-world locations like New York City, Tokyo, and Paris. It features "tours" which change in a biweekly basis, consisting numerous cups with three courses and a bonus challenge stage. It would ultimately receive 265 characters and 103 tracks, including 72 classic courses from ''Super'' through ''7'', 10 "Remix" courses (new layouts using elements from ''Super''), and 21 brand-new ones (14 world cities and 7 others, with three being EarlyBirdCameo from ''8 Deluxe''[='s=] DLC). |
| 32 | [[/index]] |
| 33 | |
| 34 | [[AC:''VideoGame/MarioKartArcadeGP'']] [-(developed by Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment)-] |
| 35 | * '''''Mario Kart Arcade GP''''' (Arcade, 2005): Features 11 characters including Namco mainstays such as VideoGame/PacMan, Ms. Pac-Man, and Blinky. Features a card system for saving data such as Time Attack times and saving powerups, but only on select cabs. |
| 36 | * '''''Mario Kart Arcade GP 2''''' (Arcade, 2007): An UpdatedRerelease of the first arcade title. Has 13 characters, the 11 original plus Waluigi and [[Franchise/{{Tamagotchi}} Mametchi]]. It also features four new tracks in addition to the original ones. This was also Namco's first crossover with Bandai after the companies merged in 2006. |
| 37 | * '''''Mario Kart Arcade GP DX''''' (Arcade, 2013): A new arcade game featuring a single-player Grand Prix, co-op, and a "Clone Battle" mode. Features 20 characters, including Don Chan from the ''VideoGame/TaikoNoTatsujin'' series. Also includes the gliders from ''Mario Kart 7''. The Japanese version has support for Namco's Banapassport card system, for saving player data online. Strangely, this is the only ''Mario Kart'' game in the whole series not to have a Time Trial mode. |
| 38 | * '''''Mario Kart Arcade GP VR''''' (Arcade, 2017): A Virtual Reality-based release, using Platform/HTCVive headsets and controllers. There are only 4 playable characters,[[note]]Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Yoshi[[/note]] one for each arcade cabinet. Players race on a lengthy single-lap course, consisting of a variety of themes, such as Piranha Plant-infested grasslands, Bowser's Castle, and Peach's Castle. |
| 39 | |
| 40 | [[AC:Other]] |
| 41 | * '''''Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit''''' (Nintendo Switch, 2020): An augmented reality version of the game that uses remote-controlled toy cars that are wirelessly connected to the console, allowing players to experience a ''Mario Kart'' race as if were happening in their own living rooms. |
| 42 | * '''''Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge''''': A theme park ride at ''Ride/SuperNintendoWorld''. It is an AR-augmented dark ride with [[RailShooter gallery shooter]] elements, in which riders must fight off Bowser's minions while helping Team Mario win a race against Team Bowser. This ride is currently available several [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal Parks]], namely both Universal Studios Japan and Hollywood, with additional locations at Singapore and Epic Universe under-construction. |
| 43 | |
| 44 | ---- |
| 45 | |
| 46 | !!The series features examples of these tropes: |
| 47 | |
| 48 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 49 | |
| 50 | [[folder:# - C]] |
| 51 | * AdventurousIrishViolins: Moo Moo Meadows from ''Wii'' and ''8''. |
| 52 | * AIBreaker: Simply giving the AI even more speed beyond 150cc in ''8'''s 200cc class breaks them. Since the AI is not programmed to use the brakes, they'll attempt to use their usual methods of turning and drifting, which will cause them to either slam into the walls or go flying off the track. Not the case in ''8 Deluxe'', where not only do they handle the speed better, they take advantage of every opportunity they have. |
| 53 | * AllInARow: |
| 54 | ** The limited AI of early installments generally kept the AI in a close pack and following almost the exact same path each lap, to the point where a map display looks like they're following the leader like you'd see in an RPG (it is especially noticeable when attempting to catch up after getting taken out by, say, a Spiny Shell). You can even decide which AI to harass just by where you drop your items. |
| 55 | ** Later installments [[AvertedTrope give the AI much more variety]], especially in ''Mario Kart 7'', where if the track offers alternate paths, the AI will regularly split up between them. |
| 56 | * AlwaysNight: Ghost Valley 1-3, Toad's Turnpike, Frappe Snowland, N64 and DS Wario Stadium (the latter does take place during the daytime in ''8'', however), Banshee Boardwalk, Boo Lake, Broken Pier, GCN Sherbet Land, Luigi's Mansion (both the track in ''DS'', ''7'' and ''Tour'' and battle arena in ''Double Dash!!''), Mushroom City, Wario Colosseum, Mario Kart Stadium, Moonview Highway, Music Park, Rosalina's Ice World, Twisted Mansion, the winter version of Animal Crossing, Rainbow Road from ''Double Dash!!'', ''8'''s remakes of the N64 and SNES Rainbow Road (which unlike other Rainbow Roads, all take place in the night sky of a city instead of space), New York Minute, Vancouver Velocity, Merry Mountain, Ninja Hideaway, Singapore Speedway and Rome Avanti. |
| 57 | * AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield: TropeCodifier. Rainbow Road in every game. A psychedelic race across a wafer-thin track. Always set in space (or, in a few cases, the skies above some metropolis), always the hardest track of the game (except in 64's case, where it's completely railed on both sides, and only has the odd, easily-avoidable Chain Chomp roaming the extremely long track), and most have few railings to protect you from falling off into thin air. |
| 58 | * AntiFrustrationFeatures: |
| 59 | ** In ''8'', finishing a Grand Prix in 150cc now also counts as finishing the same set of races in 50cc or 100cc, awarding you the appropriate trophy and stars for all three engine classes--no more [[FakeLongevity wasting time completing Grand Prix again in 50cc and 100cc]] just for OneHundredPercentCompletion (Mirror Mode and 200cc don't count, however. You still have to go through them separately)! |
| 60 | *** Also, for the more average players, if you complete races in 100cc, you also get trophies and stars in 50cc as well. |
| 61 | ** Usually, you cannot collect an item if you already have one, but if you collect an item box ''just'' before a Piranha Plant item runs out, you still get the new item. When you throw a boomerang, it doesn't count as having the item while it's in the air, so another item can be collected in its place. |
| 62 | ** ''Arcade GP DX'' will activate an auto-accelerate mode if it doesn't detect any pedal input for the first few seconds of a race. This is useful for children and those whose disabilities prevent them from operating foot pedals, as well as if you get stuck with a cabinet with a non-functional gas pedal. |
| 63 | * AntiGrinding: In ''8'', the amount of VR you obtain in online races is directly affected by how much the others racers have. If you have less than theirs, you'll obtain far more points ''even if you didn't finish in first place'', though the reverse can also happen, forcing you to look for others with a large amount of VR. |
| 64 | * AnnouncerChatter: The second and third arcade games feature an announcer who comments on the race. He doesn't appear in any of the main games. |
| 65 | * AnthropomorphicFood: The bananas have smiley faces on them, suggesting that they're sentient. |
| 66 | * ArcNumber: Eight pops up a lot in ''8''. There's the Crazy 8 item, the Mach 8 kart, it's used as the default racer symbol, various courses containing 8's in their map, Miis are always the eighth character unlocked... |
| 67 | * ArcSymbol: The track maps in ''8'' often feature the number "8" somehow. The version of Mario Circuit for that game and Toad's Turnpike are shaped like an 8, and ''8'''s Rainbow Road, N64 Yoshi's Valley, and the returning N64 Rainbow Road all have 8's in their design. |
| 68 | * ArrangeMode: |
| 69 | ** In all but two entries, players will be able to unlock a fourth racing class aside from 50cc, 100cc and 150cc: Mirror Mode, starting with ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' (in which the class was referred to as Extra instead). Mirror Mode is essentially 150cc, but [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin with the tracks flipped horizontally]]. |
| 70 | ** ''Tour'' uses about 10 or so courses multiple times in each tour, so it introduces a few variants of each to keep things fresh. "R" versions are a LevelInReverse, "T" versions add several jumps and elevated portions, and [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs "R/T" courses are both at once]]. |
| 71 | %%** ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'' adds a ''fifth'' racing class in a free update: 200cc, in which the karts get so fast that braking is ''necessary'' in order to stay on the road. |
| 72 | * ArtEvolution: The graphics steadily grow better with home console release. There is a big jump with ''8'', the first HD game. Just compare the [[http://www.rantlifestyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/projec14.jpg original Royal Raceway]] with the [[http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140614165247/mariokart/images/3/35/Royal_Raceway_(Mario_Kart_8).jpg high-def]] [[http://static4.gamespot.com/uploads/screen_kubrick/1537/15377506/2537074-gameplay_mariokart8royalracewaycomparison_gs.jpg remake.]] |
| 73 | * ArtifactTitle: Downplayed. While the series still features go-karts, they're no longer the only form of vehicle in the series and hadn't been since ''VideoGame/MarioKartDoubleDash'', with the vehicle roster now consisting of various types of cars, [=ATVs=], and motorbikes. |
| 74 | * ArtificialBrilliance: |
| 75 | ** In ''DS'', the AI actually seems to know that if it puts a Banana Peel or fake item box on the loop-the-loop or the corkscrew in Rainbow Road, there's no chance you'll survive. The AI in the games after ''64'' seemed to have known about using items as shields and even tries to drop banana peels ''right'' in your path if you were close to them. They're still ''very'' prone to cheating, though. |
| 76 | ** By ''7'', the AI has learned to block items perfectly and even fire them ''backwards'' at the perfect time to hit you. The AI is even smart enough to use shortcuts when they have the item needed to reach them. Heck, on higher difficulties on ''7'', if a Spiny Shell is homing in on them and you're not too far behind, they may even try to veer in front of you to take you out with them, a tactic commonly employed by ''human'' players. |
| 77 | ** In ''8'', they're even smart enough to utilize the shortcuts on a track if they have a Mushroom on hand, and the Spiny Shell tactic from ''7'' has been expanded upon so that, if they're in 1st and you're nearby in 2nd, they will notice when another player has launched a Spiny Shell, and ''[[SchmuckBait let you pass them]]'' until the Spiny Shell is close enough to decide on its target. |
| 78 | * ArtificialStupidity: |
| 79 | ** In the early games, the AI is pretty stupid and naturally handicapped... But they manage to provide a challenge [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard by speeding]]. In ''64'', for instance, computer opponents will throw banana peels ahead of themselves and immediately slip on them, but catch up to you by means of {{rubber band AI}}. The AI in ''8'' aren't even programmed to use the brakes, which leads them crashing into walls and flying off the track on the 200cc difficulty a lot. |
| 80 | ** In ''Super Mario Kart'', the AI in Bowser Castle 2 seem to suddenly break at the final jump before the finish line. They keep grinding against the wall which screws up their momentum and causes them to fall into the lava at least half the time. |
| 81 | ** In Mario Circuit 2 from the same game, sometimes, one particular AI racer will always fail the long jump, grind on the wall, give up and have to go the long way around to try again. Then fail the jump repeatedly. |
| 82 | ** In ''Wii'' within team [=VS=] races. [=AIs=] will still try to throw red shells ahead of them even if they and any other teammates are frontrunning (assuming the AI throwing the shell isn't already in 1st). Since there is no friendly fire, the red shell flies past them without hitting an enemy racer.[[note]]Typically the red shell will break before it wraps around the course, but by the time that happens, if ever due to things like a gap or cannon, the racers will have already moved beyond that part of the course.[[/note]] |
| 83 | * AscendedExtra: |
| 84 | ** Lakitu becomes playable in ''7'' and ''8'' after spending the rest of the series as an NPC. |
| 85 | ** Also, Shy Guy was promoted from a character used only in Download Play Mode in ''DS'' to a fully-playable character in ''7'' and ''8''. |
| 86 | ** This trope is played with in the case of Wiggler, who was originally a final boss character for ''Mario Kart DS'' and an obstacle on Maple Treeway in ''Mario Kart Wii'' before he finally shrunk down and he got himself a kart for ''Mario Kart 7''. (Funnily enough, that Wii track is included in ''7''.) Then he gets demoted to an ATV in ''Mario Kart 8'' |
| 87 | ** The Honey Queen had previously only appeared in a few stages of the ''Super Mario Galaxy'' games before making her first (and only) playable appearance in ''7''. |
| 88 | ** Metal Mario was originally just a power-up form in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''; the only times he's been a separate character before ''7'' was in the original ''VideoGame/MarioGolf'' and as a stubborn [[MiniBoss mid-boss]] in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''. He also returns in ''8''. |
| 89 | ** Dry Bowser was absent in ''7'' and got [[DemotedtoExtra demoted]] to a background object in Bone Dry Dunes in ''8''. Then the second DLC pack came around and he's back! |
| 90 | ** Bowser Jr., Dry Bones and King Boo return to the franchise as playable characters in ''8 Deluxe'' after being absent in ''7'' and the former two only doing cameos in the Wii U version of ''8''. |
| 91 | * AscendedMeme: |
| 92 | ** Luigi's memetic Death Stare from ''8'' has been officially acknowledged several times, appearing in trailers, Nintendo's E3 2014 event, and even Luigi's Toys/{{amiibo}} video. |
| 93 | ** In the Mute City DLC track in ''8'', one of the signs shows Captain Falcon saying "Show me your moves!" |
| 94 | * AstralFinale: Rainbow Road is always the final track and usually appears in space. |
| 95 | * AuthorAppeal: Yoshi Circuit from ''Double Dash!!'' featured heavily in advertisements for said game, was one of the first retro tracks remade, was ''the'' first DLC course, and makes a cameo in the background of the revamped GBA Ribbon Road. The reason for all this is because it's Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto's personal favorite course. |
| 96 | * AwesomeButImpractical: |
| 97 | ** The Beast Glider in ''7'' and the Golden Glider in ''7'' and ''8'' are flashy, but are just a reskinned Super Glider. The Golden Tires are also pretty, but their stats are worse than the Slick Wheels, and the Golden Kart's stats are worse than the Soda Jet. What's worse, all of the golden parts and the Beast Glider take an extremely long time to earn. |
| 98 | ** The Spiny Shell. It is always satisfying to deliver karma to the racer in first place, but you would have to be so far behind in the race to even get one that knocking out the first place racer will very rarely ever help the racer who threw the Spiny Shell in any significant way. |
| 99 | * BadassBiker: Peach, Daisy, Rosalina and Pauline when they ride bikes or [=ATVs=], as they use body-clinging suits when riding them as opposed to their usual dresses. This however is justified because riding a bike with those dresses on would be very impractical. |
| 100 | * BananaPeel: One of the standard items since the first game. It was the special item of Donkey Kong Jr. in the first game, and a giant variation thereof was the special item of Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong in ''Double Dash''. |
| 101 | * BatFamilyCrossover: ''Double Dash!!'' was the first ''Mario'' spinoff to integrate the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' cast into the extended ''Mario'' cast, as it included Diddy Kong. Funky Kong later joined in ''Wii''. ''7'' also holds a track that's dedicated to ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'' (it returns in ''8''). |
| 102 | * BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: |
| 103 | ** In ''8'', the background Toads on Rainbow Road need spacesuits, but the racers don't. |
| 104 | ** Another [[ArtisticLicenseSpace space related oddity]] is the use of gliders in space, which need air resistance to work. |
| 105 | ** Also present in ''7'' onwards, with the underwater sections where the racers don't seem to have any trouble breathing. Interestingly, in ''8'', there are Toads wearing scuba gear in the underwater sections of Dolphin Shoals, while the racers, including Toad, get along just fine. |
| 106 | * BattleBoomerang: The [[VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand Boomerang Flower]] appears as an item in ''Mario Kart 8'', which allows players to throw up to three boomerangs when they get it. |
| 107 | * BerserkButton: Wiggler, as expected, will turn red and fly into a rage if he's ever hit by an item. |
| 108 | %%* BigApplesauce: New York Minute in ''Tour''. |
| 109 | * BigBoosHaunt: The series has several racetracks set within either haunted piers or Ghost Houses. In piers, the tracks are made of wood and lack railings, so all drivers must tackle the corners with extreme caution to avoid falling into the water. The spooky tracks that have appeared in the series are: |
| 110 | ** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioKart'' - Ghost Valley 1, 2, and 3. |
| 111 | ** ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' - Banshee Boardwalk. |
| 112 | ** ''VideoGame/MarioKartSuperCircuit'' - Boo Lake and Broken Pier. |
| 113 | ** ''VideoGame/MarioKartDoubleDash'' - Luigi's Mansion (battle course). |
| 114 | ** ''VideoGame/MarioKartDS'' - Luigi's Mansion (race track) and Twilight House (battle course). |
| 115 | ** ''VideoGame/MarioKartWii'' - re-uses Super Mario Kart's Ghost Valley 2, and ''DS''' Twilight House. |
| 116 | ** ''VideoGame/MarioKart7'' - re-uses Luigi's Mansion from ''DS''. |
| 117 | ** ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'' - Twisted Mansion. The Switch version brings back Luigi's Mansion from ''Double Dash!!'' as a retro battle course and ''Boo Lake'' from ''Super Circuit'' in the Booster Course Pass. |
| 118 | ** ''Tour'' has retro haunted tracks (SNES Ghost Valley 1 & 2, RMX Ghost Valley 1, GBA Boo Lake, DS Luigi's Mansion and Twilight House). |
| 119 | * BlandNameProduct: |
| 120 | ** Those Jumbo Jets you see at Sunshine Airport are not Boeing 747s. |
| 121 | ** The Japanese version of ''64'' features parody ads of real products. Namely Luigip (Agip gasoline), [=Yoshi1=] ([=Mobil1=] oil), Marioro (Marlboro cigarettes), Koopa Air (Good Year tires), and the orange 64 ball (Union 76 gasoline). Due to possible legal issues (and to avoid promoting cigarettes), these were all changed outside of Japan. |
| 122 | * BootstrappedTheme: Four of the bars from the SNES game's title theme have been remixed into every other title themes of the series, thus, making these four bars the de facto theme of the series. |
| 123 | * BoringButPractical: |
| 124 | ** The unlockable gliders aside from Beast and Gold in ''7'' and ''8'' are less cool looking but increase your acceleration. |
| 125 | ** Banana peels are as plain as they can get and they only cause other drivers to spin out when they run over one, but strategic placement of the peels can turn the race in your favor. |
| 126 | ** Trailing shells and bananas behind you rather than simply deploying them helps serve as useful {{Single Use Shield}}s against some rear attacks. |
| 127 | * BottomlessPitRescueService: Falling into a pit results in a Lakitu pulling you back onto the stage, but with a major loss in time, position, or coins. |
| 128 | * BottomlessPits: Fairly often, though averted in ''8''. |
| 129 | * {{Bowdlerization}} |
| 130 | ** In the Japanese version of ''Super Mario Kart'', if placed 1st overall in the Mario Kart GP, Bowser and Peach ''actually drink the champagne'' (though it's clear that the latter is a lightweight [[CantHoldHisLiquor in more than one sense of the word]]). |
| 131 | ** The Japanese ''64'' featured an ad that parodied Marlboro cigarettes. This ad was replaced with a generic "Mario Star" ad for international releases. |
| 132 | ** In the Japanese version of ''Super Circuit'', the Shy Guys that lived on Sunset Wilds wore feathered headdresses and lived in tipis. The headdresses were removed outside of Japan, likely because it was an offensive stereotype of Native Americans. In ''Tour'', the Shy Guys are miners and live in tents. |
| 133 | * BraggingRightsReward: |
| 134 | ** Starting with ''64'', beating the Extra/Mirror Special Cup unlocks a new title screen. [[note]]In ''Mario Kart 64'', mirror mode was known as "Extra" and mirrored left/right on every track, plus it reversed the direction of the vehicles on Toad's Turnpike. In ''Super Circuit'', there was no mirror mode, but there was a completely different "Extra" mode that consisted of {{Nostalgia Level}}s from the original and was [[GuideDangIt unlocked through a method nobody would think to do without looking it up or asking someone who has]]. To get all extra cups on one engine class (with the method being the same with each class), every cup has to have a gold trophy and the cups have to be done over again with the coin total at the end being at least 100; fortunately, getting another gold trophy is not a requirement (anywhere from fourth up when just playing through them to get the extra cup equivalent is OK). Beating the 150cc Extra Special Cup unlocked the first new title screen, and achieving a three-star rank on every cup unlocked the second. In ''Double Dash!!'', there is a secret bonus cup known as the All-Cup Tour, consisting of [[MarathonLevel every single]] track in the game, which unlocks Mirror Mode in the first place, which when beaten on Mirror along with the standalone cups unlocks a secret kart and the new title screen. ''DS'', ''Wii'', ''7'' and ''8'' require 150cc to be beaten to unlock Mirror, but otherwise don't have any ridiculous methods of unlocking the new title screen.[[/note]] |
| 135 | ** Mii Outfit B in ''Wii'' is just a special costume for Miis to wear. It offers no benefits over Mii Outfit A. Similarly, amiibo figures can be used to unlock new racing suits for your Mii in ''8'' based on Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link]], [[VideoGame/FZero Captain Falcon]], Franchise/{{Kirby}}, [[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Samus]], and [[Franchise/StarFox Fox]]. The second round of these costumes include Bowser, Rosalina, Toad, Wario, [[VideoGame/{{Pikmin}} Olimar]], [[Franchise/AnimalCrossing Villager]], Franchise/MegaMan, Franchise/{{Sonic|TheHedgehog}}, and VideoGame/PacMan. In ''8 Deluxe'', a whole slew of Mii outfits from ''Tour'' were added along with the final wave of DLC. |
| 136 | ** The golden parts in ''7'' and ''8'' are mostly for show, as they have no major bonuses and are comparable to stats of other available parts. |
| 137 | ** Purchasing both DLC packs in ''8'' offers different colored Yoshis and Shy Guys as a bonus. They're only a cosmetic PaletteSwap, though. |
| 138 | * TheCameo: |
| 139 | ** A Blue and Yellow Toad appear as floats in ''7'''s Toad Circuit. They also are the poster characters for the Two-player Online feature in ''8'' (and can sometimes be seen floating in space in the online play menus, along with a Green Toad). They previously appeared in ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand''. |
| 140 | ** If you race as your Mii in ''Wii'', various statues and posters will be replaced with Miis from the Mii Channel (so for instance, your Mii will appear on a statue of Mario in DK Summit, or on billboards in Moonview Highway). On select tracks, like Coconut Mall, your Miis will appear on posters even if you are not playing as your own Mii. Miis also appear as spectators in both ''Wii'' and ''7''. |
| 141 | ** VideoGame/RallyX, a [[VideoGame/DigDug Pooka]], and a VideoGame/{{Galaga}} flagship appear as special items for the Pac-Man characters in ''Arcade GP''. |
| 142 | ** The Namco Circuit from ''GP DX'' goes out of its way to have sprites and illustrations from classic arcade games, including the above mentioned three as well as VideoGame/TheTowerOfDruaga, VideoGame/{{Galaxian}}, and VideoGame/{{Mappy}}, all a ShoutOut to ''VideoGame/RidgeRacer'' series. |
| 143 | ** [[Franchise/FireEmblem Saint Elimine]] shows up in the ''Double Dash!!'' bonus disc to facilitate the transfer of some items to ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade''. Bear in mind that this is a character who doesn't even actually appear in her ''own'' games, the aforementioned ''Blazing Blade'' as well as ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade''. |
| 144 | ** Various F-Zero racers and their machines show up on billboards in Mute City. Captain Falcon himself appears on a screen to deliver a message to the racers. |
| 145 | ** Several villagers from the ''Animal Crossing'' series appear on the sidelines in the course based on their series. |
| 146 | * CanonDiscontinuity: The ''Arcade GP'' titles tend to be ignored by Nintendo and are largely not acknowledged in anything ''Mario Kart'' related, with none of the other entries featuring tracks or characters original to the arcade games. This is most likely due to Creator/BandaiNamco being the developers of the games as opposed to Nintendo. |
| 147 | * CarFu: |
| 148 | ** Battle modes are generally like this. So are many of the boss battles in the Mission Mode in ''DS''. |
| 149 | ** Heavy characters are more skilled in this set... Heavy characters don't need a weapon to knock opponents off road. Even in battle mode in most games, a heavy character going at full speed can damage their opponent if they hit them from the correct angle. However, any character that slams into an opponent with a boost item (such as a mushroom) will deal damage (and even flat-out steal a balloon). |
| 150 | * CartoonCheese: Cheese Land (naturally) from ''Super Circuit'' is an entire racecourse made entirely out of it, complete with CheesyMoon and Little Mousers running around. |
| 151 | ** It returns in ''8'', but it now looks like a canyon ''made of cheese''. |
| 152 | * CharacterClassSystem: Each game divides up the racers into a few different categories, which affect their performance, and in ''Double Dash!!'' and ''Wii'', which karts they could use. ''Wii'' used size-based categories, but all other games have used weight-based categories instead. Likewise, ''7'' and ''8'' divided characters up into five different categories instead of the usual three. '''Tour'''(being a gacha game) used rarity categories instead. |
| 153 | * CharacterCustomization: While every game varied racers' abilities depending on their [[CharacterClassSystem weight/size category]], ''[[VideoGame/MarioKartDoubleDash Double Dash!!]]'' truly began using this trope, introducing the ability to choose between different karts for each character, and allowing players to mix and match pairs of racers, granting access to different special items. Subsequent games dropped the two-racer gimmick, but kept the option for different karts. ''Wii'' tried varying up characters within each size category by giving them unique stat boosts, but the idea was abandoned in later games. Starting with ''7'', the karts themselves can now be customized, with different options for the chassis, wheels, and glider. |
| 154 | * CheerfulChild: Toad, Toadette, and the babies. Lemmy acts like one. Small Miis can also look the part. |
| 155 | * ChestInsignia: The series has used a vehicle variant since ''DS'', with each kart having two or three places on it for the driver's personal emblem. Each playable character has their own icon (e.g. Mario's trademark red "M"), and ''DS'' itself even let players design their own custom symbol, although the custom icons were removed in all later games due to [[VideoGamePerversityPotential the staggering number of crude and/or offensive images people created]]. [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=173 (VG Cats sums up the mentality here.)]] |
| 156 | * ChromeChampion: Metal Mario, Silver Robo Mario, and Pink Gold Peach. |
| 157 | * ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Whenever a character does not appear in the very next game after one they did, but a very notable one is Waluigi, who was in every game since ''Double Dash'' before not getting into ''7''. The game even has Waluigi's ''stage'' from ''DS'', Waluigi Pinball. |
| 158 | * ClockworksArea: Tick Tock Clock in ''DS'' and ''8'' takes place in a giant ClockTower where the racers drive on shifting gears and clock faces and have to avoid pendulums and clock hands. |
| 159 | * CollisionDamage: |
| 160 | ** If one racer hits another and the one crashing is significantly heavier than the one being hit, they'll simply knock the lighter kart aside. |
| 161 | ** While under the effect of a Super Star, any opponents you collide with will be knocked into the air. |
| 162 | * ColorCodedCharacters: |
| 163 | ** The playable Lakitu in ''7'' has a red shell. The usual announcer Lakitu has a green shell. |
| 164 | ** Players are assigned different colored balloons in Battle Mode to help sort them out. The teams themselves are divided into red and blue, but starting from ''Wii'', individual characters' balloons can vary. These rules also extend to VS. team racing. |
| 165 | ** In single cartridge multiplayer mode for ''Super Circuit'', each player uses a differently-colored Yoshi. Similarly, Download Play for ''DS'' and ''7'' assigns a differently-colored Shy Guy to each player. |
| 166 | * ComebackMechanic: The series has been giving out more powerful items to racers falling behind since the start. This also applies to Battle Mode. |
| 167 | * CompanyCameo: The ''Mario Kart'' series has many advertisements and banners strewn across its tracks, and this often includes banners for Creator/{{Nintendo}} themselves. They have a particular prevalence in circuits and raceways (though they're by no means exclusive to them); among others, they've had ads in Luigi Raceway and Mario Raceway in ''64'', Luigi Circuit in ''Double Dash!!'', Luigi Circuit and N64 Mario Raceway in ''Wii'', and Toad Circuit in ''7''. |
| 168 | * TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: The cheating is ''so'' bad it has [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard/MarioKart its own sub-page]]. |
| 169 | -->''"Don't you know? 'CC' in ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' refers to 'Cheating Capacity'. On 50cc, they have a much lower cheating capacity than on 150cc, where everyone ''but'' you is hacking to go max speed all the time."'' |
| 170 | -->--'''Post on VGF''' on the cheatsy AI in ''VideoGame/MarioKart''. |
| 171 | ** In ''Super Mario Kart'', while the AI can crash into walls if you make it happen, course obstacles do not apply to them as they will simply jump over the obstacle ''without the use of a Feather item''. Any racer you brush up against can also continuously use a certain item (depending on the character) ''infinitely''. To top it off, some of them have access to items you can never get.[[note]]The only one of real interest is the Poison Mushroom used by Princess (Peach) and Toad, which shrinks anyone that strikes it ala a Lightning item. The other two exclusive items, Yoshi's Egg and Bowser's Fireball, are just over-glorified Bananas, though the latter of the two items spins in circles slightly.[[/note]] |
| 172 | ** In ''64'', your rival computers will constantly be on your tail, and eventually pass you if you can't constantly hit them with items and/or lose enough speed to let them pass you. Hit them with a banana peel, shell, or fake block and they'll be back in about 10-20 seconds. Even if they pass you, they ''still'' might not slow down and will gain a huge lead (especially on courses like Kalimari Desert or Bowser's Castle). If you take an ultra shortcut like on Rainbow Road that skips 1/3 of the track, expect them to speed up unrealistically and catch you. |
| 173 | ** ''Wii'' is even worse. Rubber-banding in speed is still present, although less obvious, but the computer constantly gets the Spiny Shell and can and ''will'' nail you with it. If not that, then expect Bob-ombs or Red Shells to screw you over, followed by getting ''railroaded'' by the other drivers as you try to recover, knocking your placing further down, especially if you're on a bridge or next to a hazard. |
| 174 | ** ''7'' adds a new dimension, thanks to the reintroduction of coins. You need 10 coins in order to max out your kart's speed and acceleration. Not so much for the CPU-controlled drivers; in the 150cc and Mirror modes, their speed and acceleration are permanently set to above your maximum speed, irrespective of how many coins they actually have or how fast their kart speed stat is supposed to be. On top of this, [[ArtificialBrilliance the A.I. now utilizes shortcuts with Mushrooms and Stars]], and seems even better at shooting things at you and placing banana peels than before. This means that unless you can keep your coin count reasonably high throughout the race and/or make good use of your items, you're going to lose to a rival computer that somehow always manages to stay with you, if not ''worse''. |
| 175 | * ConsoleCameo: There's a Battle course that takes place on a [=GameCube=] in ''Double Dash'' and one that takes place on a Nintendo DS in ''DS''. |
| 176 | * ContinuityNod: |
| 177 | ** By making Koopa Troopa a default and leaving Wario unlockable, the starting character roster of ''7'' is a throwback to the character line up from ''Super Mario Kart'' (replacing Donkey Kong Jr. with his older counterpart). Similarly, the default roster of ''DS'' is identical to that of ''64''. |
| 178 | ** Some of ''7'''s unlockable karts are ones from earlier games in the series, such as the Pipe Frame, the original kart from ''64'' and ''Super Circuit'' (with the single-exhaust ''Super Mario Kart'' version being available in ''8'' and ''Tour''), and the Barrel Train from ''Double Dash!!''. ''Tour'' features multiple karts and gliders from past games, including the Turbo Yoshi from ''Double Dash!!'', the Royale from ''DS'', and the Flame Flyer from ''Wii''. |
| 179 | ** ''Double Dash!!''[='=]s special item per character is a nod to the special items used by the AI in ''Super Mario Kart''. |
| 180 | ** ''Super Circuit''[='s=] Rainbow Road has a nod to the original ''VideoGame/{{Paper Mario|64}}'' by having Bowser's Castle from that game in the background. This was likely because both ''Super Circuit'' and the ''Paper Mario'' games came from Nintendo's Intelligent Systems division instead of Nintendo EAD. |
| 181 | ** The drivers from ''64'' make the Pipe Frame match the color they originally used in ''64''. Koopa Troopa's Pipe Frame matches the color in ''Super'', which is the only game before ''7'' that both have appeared in together. |
| 182 | ** N64 Luigi Raceway and SNES Rainbow Road in ''7'' stick to the classic formula from their respective games, as they don't have gliding or underwater driving. |
| 183 | ** The rival system in ''7'' pairs most of the drivers from ''Super Mario Kart'' with their old rival from said game. |
| 184 | ** Piranha Plant Slide is one big ContinuityNod to the original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' The cardboard Goombas are also one to ''Super Mario 3D Land''. |
| 185 | ** The Pipe Frame's design in ''8'' is based on the artwork from ''Super Mario Kart''. |
| 186 | ** Pink Gold Peach may say "Oh, did I win?" if she comes in first. Peach also may say this if she wins in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' |
| 187 | ** Some of the staff ghosts in ''8'' are references to what world the Koopalings appeared in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3''. Wendy appears in Dolphin Shoals (Sea Side), Ludwig appears in Piranha Plant Slide (Pipe Maze), Lemmy appears in Sherbet Land (Iced Land), and Morton appears in Bone-Dry Dunes (Desert Hill). |
| 188 | ** Sunshine Airport in ''8'' has several red and white feather pens on the reception desks, which look exactly like the Feather item that debuted in ''Super Mario Kart'' (which also made a comeback in ''8 Deluxe''). |
| 189 | ** A billboard in SNES Battle Course 1 in ''8 Deluxe'' resembles the character select screen from ''Super''. |
| 190 | ** In ''8 Deluxe'', the Koopalings color the rim of the Koopa Clown Car to match their costumes in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' (red for Roy, pink for Wendy, blue for Ludwig, etc.). The same happens when they use the Landship. |
| 191 | * ConvectionSchmonvection: Many stages (especially Bowser's Castle levels) feature tons of lava. It's only a problem if you fall in, or if you run into a spout, but even if you accidentally do so, no worries — Lakitu will fish you right out. |
| 192 | * CoolBike: Motorbikes made their debut in ''Wii'', and then returned in ''8''. Although there was one unlockable bike-styled kart in ''DS'' as well. |
| 193 | * CoOpMultiplayer: One of the main features in ''Double Dash!!''. Battle Mode in ''Wii'' is also like this. Also somewhat in ''64'', where Grand Prix supported 2 players; only one player had to place in the top 4 to move on. |
| 194 | * CosmeticAward: |
| 195 | ** The reward for beating every cup with a one-star, two-star, or three-star rating in ''Wii'' and ''7'' is the appropriate number of stars next to your name on the "race Results" screen. |
| 196 | ** Using the motion control option for a number of races in a row in ''7'' and ''8'' awards you with a gold steering wheel, which is also displayed on the result screen. |
| 197 | * CreatorCameo: Staff Ghosts have been available for the purpose of beating Nintendo staff members' records in Time Trial mode in some games. In ''7'', staff members from Creator/RetroStudios join Nintendo EAD's staff. |
| 198 | * {{Crossover}}: |
| 199 | ** With the "Wii series", especially ''VideoGame/WiiSportsResort'', since Wuhu Island has two race tracks and a battle track in ''7''. Music Park also contains some nods to ''VideoGame/WiiMusic''. |
| 200 | ** Also in ''7'' and ''8'', there's DK Jungle, which is a track involving places and enemies found in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns''. Donkey Kong himself has been playable since ''64'', and Diddy, Funky and Dixie have joined in at times. |
| 201 | ** While not to the same extent as Donkey Kong, the VideoGame/{{Wario}} series has also received a few nods across the franchise as the Wario Car from ''VideoGame/WarioLand'' and the Wario Bike from ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' appear in ''Double Dash'' and ''Wii'' respectively and the primary setting of [=WarioWare=], Diamond City directly appears as a track in ''Arcade GP''. |
| 202 | ** ''VideoGame/{{Pilotwings}} Resort'' gets a couple of nods in the Maka Wuhu track. |
| 203 | ** [[VideoGame/PacMan Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Blinky]] are playable in the arcade installments, as well as Mametchi the Franchise/{{Tamagotchi}} and Don Chan of ''VideoGame/TaikoNoTatsujin''. There are also cameos by other Bandai-Namco characters, like [[VideoGame/DigDug Pooka]]. |
| 204 | ** ''8'' has [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link]], [[Franchise/AnimalCrossing Villager and Isabelle]] as DLC. |
| 205 | ** Franchise/{{Sonic|TheHedgehog}}, Franchise/MegaMan, and Pac-Man themed costumes appear in ''8'' by scanning the appropriate amiibo. |
| 206 | ** The Inkling Boy and Girl from ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' are racers in ''8 Deluxe''. A battle arena based on Urchin Underpass also appears. |
| 207 | * CruiseEpisode: ''Double Dash'' has Daisy Cruiser, which has you race through the deck, a pool area, a dining hall with sliding tables, the bow of the ship and rinse and repeat. Daisy Cruiser returns as a retro track in ''7'', and it now allows you to drive through the pool. The cellar featured in ''Double Dash'', which is just after the dining hall, has been flooded and turned into an aquarium. |
| 208 | * CyberPunk: Neo Bowser City from ''7'', ''8'' and ''Tour'', and Electrodrome from ''8''. |
| 209 | * CyberpunkIsTechno: Both of Neo Bowser City and Electrodrome's music. They're pretty upbeat though. |
| 210 | [[/folder]] |
| 211 | |
| 212 | [[folder:D - H]] |
| 213 | * DamnYouMuscleMemory: |
| 214 | ** The only difference between 150cc and Mirror is that the tracks are flipped around to invoke this, meaning you have to relearn the entire track and make left turns where you used to make right turns. It's really harder on traffic courses, since the traffic direction is reversed as well. |
| 215 | ** Try playing ''Double Dash!!'', then switching to ''Wii'' while using a Gamecube controller. Be prepared for screams of rage as you look behind you instead of throwing items, fail to get the initial boost despite timing it perfectly... |
| 216 | ** If you're used to the playstyle of ''Wii'' or ''7'', prepare to be frustrated if you start to play one of the older games. There's no button to trick off ramps and you can't drive underwater. |
| 217 | ** ''Arcade GP'' games have you ''tapping the brake'' to drift rather than holding down a dedicated button. |
| 218 | ** ''8'' changes how items are deployed. Items that come in groups of 3 are automatically used instead of being in storage until you use it, so don't be too surprised if you got used to the older games and wind up accidentally firing off one of your triple items. Similarly, the initial version of the game only allows you to carry one item at a time, unlike every other ''Mario Kart'' game (including ''8 Deluxe''), where you can drag an item behind you and still pick up another one. |
| 219 | * DeadCharacterWalking: Drivers knocked out of the contest in Battle Mode can still drive around the battlefield, laying boxes, albeit invisible and intangible. Except in ''64'', where they instead get one more chance to drive around as a bomb, though they're out for good once they blow up another player by crashing into them. |
| 220 | * DeathGlare: In ''8'', characters actually ''turn their heads'' to see the effects of the item used on their opponents. [[https://i.imgur.com/I5aR4yX.gif With frightening results.]] |
| 221 | * DeathMountain: N64 Choco Mountain and GCN DK Mountain. |
| 222 | * DemotedToExtra: |
| 223 | ** In ''7'', Waluigi went from being a playable character to merely being the mascot of his eponymous DS Waluigi Pinball. He's back to being a playable character in ''8'', curiously enough. |
| 224 | ** Earlier than ''7'', Koopa Beach appears in ''64'' despite Koopa Troopa not being playable, and ''DS'' has GCN Baby Park appear as a retro track (originally from ''Double Dash!'') despite no baby characters being playable. |
| 225 | ** In ''Tour'', the green shelled Lakitu doesn't appear in races at all, although he appears in loading screens giving out tips or when announcing the rank results. |
| 226 | * DevelopersForesight: It was discovered by the brothers who managed to successfully hack ''Mario Kart 8'' that the replay data now tracks ''everything'' gameplay-related, be it the positions of the players, what items they're using, what the driver's doing at the time, etc. It even goes as far as to ''record hacks'' should one manage to successfully hack the game in order to cheat, allowing others to catch the cheater out, should they ever view the replay data of the one who cheated. The brothers who hacked the game speculated that it was made this way so that it can work with ''Mario Kart TV''. |
| 227 | * DifficultButAwesome: |
| 228 | ** The [[MightyGlacier heavy]] karts don't recover from failure as easily as lighter karts, but avoiding error allows them to be the fastest karts in the game. RubberBandAI loves to counter this with lightweight karts [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard that can catch up to you on straightaways]]. |
| 229 | ** The Super, Beast/Ghastly, and Gold Gliders become this, especially in Time Trials, if you know about the game's hidden stats. Due to how the hidden stats are distributed, the gliders that don't boost anything (the aforementioned Super, Beast/Ghastly, and Golden Gliders) are [[UnskilledButStrong quite fast in the air, but lack aerial handling]]. |
| 230 | ** The Super Horn from ''8'' qualifies. On the Difficult side, it has a very limited range, and requires good timing. On the Awesome side, it can destroy ''Spiny Shells''. |
| 231 | ** Green Shells are this in a certain sense. They don't home in on enemy racers, but they can bounce off walls up to ten times before breaking, making them ideal in tracks with plenty of walls. Oh, and they don't trigger the danger warning like Red Shells do. |
| 232 | * DivergentCharacterEvolution: While he already got hints of it back in the original ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' and ''VideoGame/DrMario 64'', Metal Mario has become his own character in ''7''. For example, his voice clips and mannerisms are different than Mario's. They both also suggest he's a lot cockier than Mario. In ''8'', when he loses a race, he says "Mia Mama" (instead of "Mama Mia") and "Papa" (instead of "Mama"). |
| 233 | * DoWellButNotPerfect: |
| 234 | ** With a combination of GoldenSnitch and RubberBandAI, it gives most people a sense of being punished for simply being skilled. With a big enough skill gap, however, better players can consistently win races even with the deck stacked against them. |
| 235 | ** Some players use this trope to their advantage by not playing their best on purpose so they can either overtake the leader with the right item at the right time or zoom ahead the rest of the pack with a powerful item if they are farther back. |
| 236 | ** ''Tour'' has this come up with race ranking in two ways. How many Grand Stars you get depends on the evaluation you get from performing various actions during the race. If you're far enough in the lead, you'll never get the chance to use items on opponents and you're way less likely to block items as well, both of which can be prime point-earning opportunities. Plus, the chances of getting a Frenzy (and the attendant Frenzy Action bonus that can be repeatedly spammed and combined with other actions for huge combos) depend in part on your current place, with first naturally having the lowest chance. In some of the later races in a given tour, pretty much every bonus possible needs to be wrung out of a race to get all five Grand Stars from it, and a runaway victory makes it very difficult to get those bonuses. |
| 237 | * DownloadableContent: ''8'' is the first game in the series to have it. |
| 238 | * DramaticDisappearingDisplay: When racing online in ''8'', the rank display in the HUD disappears when on the last stretch of a track on its final lap, increasing suspense for close finishes. |
| 239 | * DubNameChange: |
| 240 | ** An odd case in which the North American localization of ''Wii'' had many vehicle names different from the already-released British localization (for instance, what is known as the Bowser Bike in British English is known as the Flame Runner in American English). The same goes for tracks (which is why you might find people who refer to DK Summit as DK's Snowboard Cross, and the battle stage Chain Chomp Wheel is known as Chain Chomp Roulette). |
| 241 | ** This carried over into ''7'', as some tracks and parts have different names per language version. If a track's name appears on the track itself, though, it doesn't change (Music Park/Melody Motorway being the sole exception). This happens in ''8'' too, albeit only with parts and courses that had appeared in previous installments of the series. |
| 242 | ** Averted in ''Tour'' as the karts and courses uses their American English names for all English localizations. However, the Sprinter retains its British English name, "B Dasher Mk 2". |
| 243 | ** The Raceway tracks in ''64'' were called Circuits in the original Japanese version. This change did not occur in later installments except for {{Nostalgia Level}}s that originally had the change (e.g. N64 Luigi Raceway in ''7''). |
| 244 | * DumpStat: |
| 245 | ** In ''DS'', drift and weight. Due to the exploit of snaking, it was actually beneficial to have ''less'' drift since if you had more, you'd be turning too sharply while power sliding on straightaways. The same is said for weight, since it's combined with the "off-road" stat. The less weight you had, the faster you could go off road such as in grass or dirt. Plus, bumping into other players had no effect online. The item stat was also pretty useless, especially online where you couldn't get triple items. It was good for some courses during time trials, though, as you got more mushrooms to take shortcuts. |
| 246 | ** In multiple games, handling/traction is usually the least important stat because of two factors. One: All it does is increase traction on slippery maps, which [[CripplingOverspecialization comes up too infrequently online to be really useful]], and two: a sufficiently skilled player can easily work around a low handling/traction stat by knowing when and how sharp to take turns with their builds traction. |
| 247 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: |
| 248 | ** Hits ''Super Mario Kart'', ''64'', and ''Super Circuit''. Items in particular behave much differently in these games (the Spiny Shell in ''64'' can actually crash into walls and self-destruct like a Red Shell). Additionally in ''64'', the AI racers automatically obtained items, rather than having to drive through item boxes, and they only used Bananas, Fake Item Boxes, Boos, Stars, and Thunder against you. |
| 249 | ** ''64'' has 5 Bananas per Banana Bunch instead of 3. And if another racer collides with the chain of bananas, they break apart. |
| 250 | ** ''64'' and ''Super Circuit'' had a mechanic where if a driver runs over a banana peel while going straight, tapping the brake will prevent the driver from spinning out. |
| 251 | ** While the first game lacks retro courses or the Mirror mode in Grand Prix, it has 20 tracks (4 cups with 5 tracks each) instead of the usual 16 (or 32 including the retro courses in games with them). ''64'' has an "Extra" mode that's very similar to the current Mirror Mode, though also has a few other changes. The most significant change was in Toad's Turnpike, where you would now be racing ''against'' the flow of traffic rather than with it. ''Super Circuit'' didn't have an Extra or Mirror mode, but it had 5 cups of 4 tracks each, as well as all the courses from ''Super Mario Kart'' (giving ''Super Circuit'' the most tracks out of any ''Mario Kart'' before the release of the DLC packages for ''8'', with 40 courses spread over 10 cups). It wasn't until ''DS'' where both Mirror mode and retro courses started appearing together from then on, and previously used retro courses have never been repeated (aside from the SNES courses in ''Super Circuit'', although some previously-used retro courses have been brought back in the DLC for both ''8'' and ''8 Deluxe'', as well as ''Tour''). |
| 252 | ** ''Super Circuit'''s and ''64's'' VS mode did not feature A.I. racers, and oddly, every course played in VS mode would have several Bomb Karts in it that you had to dodge. If you wanted to race against the A.I. with a friend, you had to choose Grand Prix mode. No Battle Mode A.I. ever existed until ''Double Dash!!'' either. |
| 253 | ** ''Super Mario Kart'', ''64'', and ''Super Circuit'' forced you to redo a Grand Prix race if you (and your friend in 2 player Grand Prix) failed to place within the top 4. Every other installment lets you continue, albeit at a disadvantage. |
| 254 | ** ''Super Mario Kart'' also had a different mini-turbo mechanic. While the rest of the series had you power slide by moving the analog/directional buttons left and right, the first game has you swing around curves and the straighten yourself out in order to get the boost. This mechanic was revisited in ''Super Circuit'' and tweaked further in ''Wii'', ''7'', and ''8'' due to the power sliding on straightaways exploit to move faster (Snaking) that emerged mostly in the ''Double Dash!!'' and ''DS'' games. |
| 255 | ** ''Super Mario Kart'' was the only game that has the Feather item before ''8 Deluxe''[='=]s Battle Mode, which allows you to jump high over obstacles and walls for shortcuts. Unlike the other items, it has not been used in the rest of the games since. It's also the only game to require 5 laps in each course instead of the usual 3 (some exceptions apply in later games, such as 7 (5 in ''DS'') for Baby Park, 2 for Wario Colosseum, and 1 for some courses starting in ''7'' (with the "laps" instead being used as checkpoints, and the Final Lap cue occurs once the player enters the third and final part of the course)). |
| 256 | ** ''Super Mario Kart'' was the first game to use the coin system that lets you speed up the more coins you had on you and lost coins every time you were hit or fell off course. Only ''Super Circuit'', ''7'', and ''8'' revived the coin mechanics, with a 10 coin {{Cap}} with the latter 2. |
| 257 | ** ''Super Mario Kart'', ''64'' (not shown unless you fail in a race), and ''Super Circuit'' are the only games in the series to use a lives system, making it possible to get a GameOver for failing to finish in the top 4 one too many times. However, ''64'' has infinite lives, and will still give you a negative Award Ceremony sequence if your point total over all 4 races does not make the top 3. |
| 258 | ** ''Super Mario Kart'' and ''Super Circuit'' are also the only games to have multiple versions of each course. While ''Super Circuit'' kept this to just 4 Bowser Castle courses, ''Super Mario Kart'' had 4 Mario Circuits, 3 Donut Plains, 3 Ghost Valleys, 3 Bowser Castles, 2 Choco Islands, 2 Koopa Beaches, and 2 Vanilla Lakes. |
| 259 | ** If playing with more than two players in ''64'', the music is mute to allow audio channels to play sounds from all three/four racers. This was more of a technical limitations issue. |
| 260 | ** The skill level in the Lightning Cup of ''Super Circuit'' is something between the Flower and Star Cups, having "average" difficulty in its courses. Since ''DS'', other incarnations of the Lightning Cup had a Special Cup-based skill level for its retro tracks. |
| 261 | ** ''Super Mario Kart'' didn't allow you to reverse and the manual outright tells you that you have to turn around via hopping if you needed to right yourself. All games afterwards allow you to reverse or spin in place to reorient yourself. |
| 262 | ** In ''Super Mario Kart'', item boxes (or panels, in this case) were one-time-only uses. In all future games, item boxes respawn after use. |
| 263 | ** The second lap jingle was not present in ''Super Mario Kart'', and it had a different melody in ''Super Circuit''. |
| 264 | ** The green and red shells were silent in the first three games. In ''Double Dash!!'', the sounds they made were different from the current ones introduced in ''DS''. |
| 265 | ** The earliest games had a bit more of a grounded motorsport theme to them. The results screen of ''Super Mario Kart'' featured the characters standing on a podium, with many of them posing with or downing a bottle of champagne to celebrate their win. ''Mario Kart 64'' dots its tracks with advertisements that, in the original Japanese version, were direct parodies of real-world Formula 1 sponsors at the time. Beyond those games, ''Mario Kart'' makes little pretence of its races taking part in something resembling a real world racing series, with perhaps the closest thing that remains is that it is still common for at least one or two tracks in each game to be set at a fairly realistic circuit. |
| 266 | * EarnYourBadEnding: In every game prior to ''Double Dash!!'', earning enough score to be in the three top places would give you a pretty similar coronation ceremony, only changing the color of the trophy. Getting fourth place would give you a different sequence in which your character watches the ceremony without claiming any rewards (with ''64'' even having a sequence where the player gets further humiliation from a Bomb Kart). But in order to get this negative ceremony, you had to struggle to stay in fourth place all the races, since 5th or lower won't let you continue. Getting this ending ends up being more difficult than being in first place. |
| 267 | * EarnYourFun: ''Super Mario Kart'' would not let you access the Special Cup on 50cc; you had to play on 100cc and then get gold trophies on the rest of the cups just to be able to play the Special Cup. You also have to beat the Special Cup with a gold trophy earned just to be able to play the 150cc class. |
| 268 | * EasterEgg: |
| 269 | ** The results music in ''64'' plays a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqqsewbj5Qw different]] piano solo after 64 loops, which takes ''52 minutes and 48 seconds''. |
| 270 | ** Pressing "Select" in ''Super Circuit'' honks the horn, which doesn't do anything. |
| 271 | ** The horn is also present in ''Double Dash!!'', but this time, the player has to press the item button when there's no item currently in possession. |
| 272 | ** The horn returns in ''8'', functioning like it did in ''Double Dash!!''. This time, it takes up most of the space on the Wii U gamepad if the map or TV screen options aren't selected. Naturally, touching it honks it. All it does is spook the other drivers. |
| 273 | ** Holding Y+A while selecting your character in ''Super Mario Kart'' will make your character tiny. Normal sized characters can squash you by running you over, but unlike characters shrunk by lightning, your speed is unaffected. |
| 274 | ** In ''8'', Yoshi spectators can sometimes be heard singing Totaka's Song (Kazumi Totaka is the voice actor for Yoshi). Although, it's drowned out by the music. |
| 275 | * EasyModeMockery: |
| 276 | ** A very mild case in ''7'' and ''8''. The [[VariableMix added bass percussion]] that plays when you're in the lead does not play when playing 50cc Grand Prix, no matter how much of a lead you have. |
| 277 | ** ''Super Mario Kart'' doesn't allow you to race in the Special Cup if you play on 50cc. |
| 278 | * EdibleAmmunition: In the arcade games, the Banana gets a shooting variant called the Banana Shot, which is basically a cannon with a banana in it. |
| 279 | * {{Egopolis}}: |
| 280 | ** Neo Bowser City in ''7'', ''8'', and ''Tour''. |
| 281 | ** [[VideoGame/WarioWare Diamond City]] in ''Arcade GP''. |
| 282 | * EmbeddedPrecursor: Unlockable, at least; ''Super Circuit'' contains ''all'' of the tracks from the original ''Super Mario Kart'' minus their track hazards. Starting with ''DS'', each game features a Nitro set of cups (16 new tracks) and a set of Retro cups (containing 16 tracks from previous ''Mario Kart'' games). |
| 283 | * EnemyMine: |
| 284 | ** In ''Double Dash!!'', it is possible to have a setup like Mario with Bowser on a kart, and have them cooperate. |
| 285 | ** In ''8'', you and a rival racer can "cooperate" by repeatedly bumping into each other during anti-gravity mode to give both of you spin boosts. |
| 286 | * EternalEngine: |
| 287 | ** Toad's Factory in ''Wii''. |
| 288 | ** Tick Tock Clock in ''DS'' and ''8''. |
| 289 | * EverythingsBetterWithRainbows: Each ''Mario Kart'' concludes with a rainbow-themed course, with ''7'' having two Rainbow Roads; one being new to that game and the other being [[NostalgiaLevel the one that started the tradition]]. ''8'', again, has one new and one from ''64''. With the first DLC Pack, SNES Rainbow Road comes back again, meaning that ''8'' has ''three'' Rainbow Roads in the same game, while the Booster Course Pass for ''Deluxe'' would add the 3DS version. ''Tour'' features five Rainbow Roads, having the SNES version (and two remixes), ''7'' and ''Wii''. |
| 290 | * EvolvingTitleScreen: All entries except ''Super Mario Kart'' have different title screens once certain conditions are met in the game. In ''64'' unlocking the Mirror Cups has the racers drive to the side in an orange sunset shading rather than head-on in midday; in ''Double Dash!!'' the voices change depending on who was played last; in all others getting gold in all of that game's Cups yields a new title screen. |
| 291 | * FadeToBlack: Momentarily whenever you fall off an edge, in every game except ''Super'' and ''8''. Some games have an IrisOut instead. |
| 292 | * FakeDifficulty: |
| 293 | ** Besides the RubberBandAI and ''Super''[='s=] use of SecretAIMoves that are better than anything you'll ever get from an item panel, the computer players are more than happy to spam the best items in the game if you're doing better than them at any given time. Happens in all games starting with ''Double Dash'' which introduced this AI behavior, but it's most notorious in that game (due to the double number racers and item boxes doubling the number of items), ''Wii'' (which introduced 12 racers), and ''8''/''8 Deluxe'' (which also features 12 racers alongside double item boxes in ''8 Deluxe'', increasing the number of items even further by bringing back the coin item and it being very common in first place, making it much easier to get bombarded by items). |
| 294 | ** In the original release version of ''8'', the only way to see the course map and which items everyone has is with the [=GamePad=]. This means anyone playing with another controller (like Wii Remote + Nunchuk) goes without this sometimes useful information. The tablet can be placed on the stand it comes with, but it's generally too small for all players to see the information clearly. Ultimately, an August 2014 update to the game made it possible for a minimap to be displayed on the TV screen itself. |
| 295 | * {{Fireballs}}: The special item for Mario and Luigi in ''Double Dash!!'', and made a regular item in ''7''. A stationary version also appeared in ''Super Mario Kart'' as a computer-exclusive item for Bowser to put onto the course. |
| 296 | * FragileSpeedster: The "quick to start, hard to catch up" variant. The lightweights, such as Toad, Koopa Troopa, and Baby Mario don't have the highest top speed, but are ''de facto'' quite fast thanks to being able to accelerate quickly in addition to having the highest handling and off-road. However, they have low weight and are mostly vulnerable to getting pushed around by heavier characters. Averted in ''64'' where lightweights are more traditional, having the highest speed ''and'' acceleration compared to the rest of the weight classes, but being harder to control. |
| 297 | * FranchiseCodifier: This sub-series of racing games starring Mario and his friends started in 1992 with ''VideoGame/SuperMarioKart'', but its numerous traits of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness make ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' the true architect of the series and the one which drew the blueprint for the elements, presentation and structure that came to define all subsequent elements (including ''VideoGame/MarioKartSuperCircuit'', which otherwise borrows many aspects of the SNES original). |
| 298 | * FrenchAccordion: Three guesses on what is the main instrument of the Paris Promenade soundtrack in ''Tour''. |
| 299 | * FrothyMugsOfWater: In the Japanese version of ''Super Mario Kart'', Bowser and Peach will drink their bottle of champagne if they get first-place Gold. This was censored out in the international versions. |
| 300 | * FurryConfusion: |
| 301 | ** One of the new characters in ''7'' is the Honey Queen from ''Super Mario Galaxy'', but one of the battle arenas in the same game takes place inside a beehive, featuring the bee enemies from ''Super Mario 3D Land'' as obstacles. |
| 302 | ** ''7'' also introduces a playable Wiggler driver, even as Maple Treeway and its giant Wigglers return from ''Wii''. |
| 303 | * GaidenGame: The ''Arcade GP'' sub-series. All ''Arcade GP'' games are developed by Namco rather than any of Nintendo's subsidiaries, and feature significantly different rules and an exclusive set of tracks that have never appeared in a consumer-soft ''Mario Kart'' game, not even in NostalgiaLevel cups. |
| 304 | * GameLobby: Racing online with friends works like this. However, players can still join between races, viewing an "instant replay" if they entered while a race is in progress. |
| 305 | * GameMod: ''Wii'' has a pretty big modding community, especially in regards to remaking tracks from old games, and even some tracks from Mario Kart games released after ''Wii'' - like a couple of ''7'''s tracks (albeit it's hard to make Wii versions of ''7'' tracks as ''7'' tracks have glider and underwater segments and Wii does not feature those capabilities. For instance, this adaptation of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efHUUMBGaUc 7's Rainbow Road]] or the version in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlY4Uid-6DY Double Dash!!]] have been almost perfectly converted to the point that they don't feel any different from their original games. |
| 306 | * GlacierWaif: |
| 307 | ** In ''Wii'', size is determined by height, not weight. Waluigi, practically a living stick-man, is in the Large Class (when he was originally Middleweight in ''Double Dash!!'' and ''DS'') because he's so tall. The same goes for King Boo (a ''ghost'', although he was a Heavyweight in ''Double Dash!!'') and Rosalina (who's taller than Waluigi, but about as thin as Peach). Both Waluigi and Rosalina were moved to the "Cruiser" class in later games, which acts as a middle-ground between middle and heavyweights. |
| 308 | ** Metal Mario and Pink Gold Peach are Heavyweights due to their metallic complexion, even though they're both the same size as their namesakes. |
| 309 | * GoKartingWithBowser: The TropeNamer. Bowser is a notorious warlord and chronic princess-kidnapper in the main-series games, but here, Mario and Peach have no problem challenging him to a friendly race. |
| 310 | * GoldColoredSuperiority: Regular red mushrooms gives one Nitro Boost. The rare Gold Mushroom gives infinite Nitro Boosts for about 10 seconds, and usually only shows up [[DesperationAttack when you're falling way behind,]] or playing as [[SpecialAttack Toad/Toadette]] in ''Double Dash!!''. |
| 311 | * GoldenSnitch: Powerful items are usually obtained by players lagging behind. Some people purposely play horribly at the start so they can score a powerful item, catch up with good racing, and then blow past the last few people on the final lap. This also keeps them (relatively) safe from the genuine laggers behind who are using their items to mess with the players in first. |
| 312 | * GravityBarrier: At the edge of some Rainbow Road courses. |
| 313 | * GravityScrew: ''8'' introduces anti-gravity, wherein specially marked areas of the course can be driven over to transform the kart into a hovercraft of sorts. Not only does this allow you to drive on walls and upside down, but bumping into certain objects (or even other racers) will reward you with a small speed boost. |
| 314 | * GroundWave: |
| 315 | ** ''Wii'' has the battle course Thwomp Desert, featuring a huge Thwomp in the middle of the arena. Every so often it slams down, causing huge waves that ripple outwards, throwing karts around. |
| 316 | ** In ''7'' and ''8'', [[NostalgiaLevel SNES Rainbow Road]] has Rainbow Thwomps that cause the track to ripple when they slam down, which didn't occur in the track's original version. |
| 317 | ** On Music Park / Melody Motorway in ''7'' and ''8'', the Bouncing Notes cause shockwaves that drivers can do aerial tricks off of. |
| 318 | * GuestFighter: |
| 319 | ** The ''Arcade GP'' games, developed by Namco, gave us [[VideoGame/PacMan Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Blinky the Ghost]]. [[Franchise/{{Tamagotchi}} Mametchi]] comes along in the second game, inadvertently providing the first crossover between Namco and Bandai since they merged. ''Arcade GP DX'', would eliminate all the Bandai Namco guests save for Pac-Man, and introduce [[VideoGame/TaikoNoTatsujin Don-Chan]] in their place. |
| 320 | ** Meanwhile, ''DS'' offered [[VideoGame/RoboticOperatingBuddy R.O.B.]], and beginning in ''Wii'', you can play as your Mii. DLC for ''8'' adds more crossover characters; Link of ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' fame and a male and female Villager and Isabelle from ''Franchise/AnimalCrossing''. ''8 Deluxe'' adds the Inklings from ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}''. ''Mario Kart'' is gradually evolving into the racing equivalent of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' with its inclusion of non-''Mario''-related Nintendo properties. |
| 321 | ** There are also occasional Guest Vehicles, the [[VideoGame/FZero Blue Falcon]], the VideoGame/MachRider, and the [[VideoGame/SteelDiver Steel Driver]]. |
| 322 | * HarderThanHard: |
| 323 | ** If 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc correspond to Easy, Medium, and Hard, then 150cc Mirror falls under this. Not only are [[DamnYouMuscleMemory the courses flipped]], but the AI is even faster and more aggressive than before. |
| 324 | ** ''8'' takes it up one step further by introducing a ''200 cc'' class; it's insanely fast as it sounds. You'll have to be steady on the brakes to make it through in first place. |
| 325 | * HavingABlast: The Bob-omb was an exclusive item for Waluigi, Wario, King Boo, and Petey Piranha in ''Double Dash!!'' but is now a standard item from ''DS'' onwards. ''Tour'' introduced the Double Bob-ombs and Bomb-omb Cannon which are exclusive special items for certain characters. |
| 326 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: |
| 327 | ** This will happen to you pretty often if you forget where you dropped your banana peels and fake item boxes, if your green shells rebound off walls back at you, if you throw a Bob-Omb right into your own path, etc. |
| 328 | ** This can also happen to you with items that are supposed to help you, such as Mushrooms and Stars. Use these speed boosting items at the wrong time and you'll fling yourself off the track. |
| 329 | ** The computer racers may accidentally get hit by the items they left behind in ''Super Mario Kart''. |
| 330 | ** If you fire off a Spiny Shell while in first place, [[TooDumbToLive it will promptly drop right back on you]]. |
| 331 | ** Get triple red shells and fire them all at once at someone, that least one of them will attack YOU. |
| 332 | * HollywoodDrowning: Surprisingly averted in ''7'' and ''8''. Although there are tracks which let you go underwater freely, there are tracks and segments with off-limits water areas. In these tracks, your character will fall and scream until they hit the water and their screaming is promptly cut off because you can't be heard underwater. This contrasts other ''Mario Kart'' games where their voices are heard even when they are submerged underwater. |
| 333 | * HomeStage: Aside from the fact that every single game is guaranteed to always have a "Mario Circuit" and "Bowser's Castle" track, other characters also get race tracks named, themed or associated to them: |
| 334 | ** ''Mario Kart 64'' |
| 335 | *** Luigi Raceway for Luigi |
| 336 | *** Royal Raceway for Peach |
| 337 | *** Toad's Turnpike for Toad |
| 338 | *** Wario Stadium for Wario |
| 339 | *** Yoshi Valley for Yoshi |
| 340 | *** DK's Jungle Parkway for DK |
| 341 | ** ''Mario Kart: Super Circuit'': |
| 342 | *** Peach and Luigi both have a circuit named after them, and Yoshi gets a desert. |
| 343 | ** ''Mario Kart: Double Dash!!'' |
| 344 | *** Luigi has both a track (Luigi Circuit) and a battle course (Luigi's Mansion) |
| 345 | *** Peach has Peach Beach |
| 346 | *** Baby Mario and Baby Luigi have Baby Park |
| 347 | *** Daisy has Daisy Cruiser |
| 348 | *** Waluigi has Waluigi Stadium |
| 349 | *** Yoshi has Yoshi Circuit |
| 350 | *** DK Mountain for DK |
| 351 | *** Wario has Wario Colosseum |
| 352 | ** ''Mario Kart DS'' |
| 353 | *** Yoshi Falls for Yoshi |
| 354 | *** VideoGame/LuigisMansion for Luigi |
| 355 | *** Waluigi Pinball for Waluigi |
| 356 | *** Shroom Ridge is usually associated with Toad. |
| 357 | *** DK Pass for DK. |
| 358 | *** Wario Stadium for Wario. |
| 359 | *** Peach Gardens for Peach. |
| 360 | ** ''Mario Kart Wii'': |
| 361 | *** There's yet another version of Luigi Circuit. |
| 362 | *** Toad gets Toad's Factory. |
| 363 | *** DK gets yet another snow mountain racetrack with DK Summit. |
| 364 | *** Wario has Wario's Gold Mines. |
| 365 | *** Daisy gets Daisy Circuit. |
| 366 | *** Koopa Cape for, of course, Koopa Troopa. |
| 367 | *** Dry Bowser is commonly associated to Grumble Volcano, probably because it mirrors his living counterpart's track. |
| 368 | *** Dry Dry Ruins is usually associated with Yoshi, probably because of the sphinx with his face. |
| 369 | *** Rosalina gets associated with this game's Rainbow Road. |
| 370 | *** While Funky Kong lacks his own track, he still has Funky Stadium, his own battle course. |
| 371 | ** ''Mario Kart 7'' |
| 372 | *** Toad Circuit for Toad. |
| 373 | *** Daisy Hills for Daisy. |
| 374 | *** Shy Guy Bazaar for Shy Guy. |
| 375 | *** Wuhu Circuit and Maka Wuhu for the Mii characters, [[VideoGame/WiiSportsResort for obvious reasons]]. |
| 376 | *** Wario gets Wario's Shipyard. |
| 377 | *** Apart from the usual Castle track, Bowser also has Neo Bowser City (Koopa City in British English), though it can also be associated to Metal Mario. |
| 378 | *** DK has DK Jungle. |
| 379 | *** Rosalina has Rosalina's Ice World. |
| 380 | *** While Koopa Beach is from ''Mario Kart 64'', it is impossible to not associate it to Koopa Troopa now that he is a playable character again. |
| 381 | ** ''Mario Kart 8'' |
| 382 | *** Sweet Sweet Canyon is usually associated to Peach and Daisy. |
| 383 | *** Toad Harbor for Toad |
| 384 | *** Twisted Mansion for Luigi, and as of the UpdatedRerelease of ''Mario Kart 8 Deluxe'', it is also associated to King Boo. |
| 385 | *** Shy Guy (the red one) gets Shy Guy Falls. |
| 386 | *** Larry Koopa is usually associated with Electrodrome because of the DJ stand. |
| 387 | *** Mount Wario for Wario |
| 388 | *** Bone Dry Dunes for Dry Bowser, and Dry Bones as of ''Mario Kart 8 Deluxe''. |
| 389 | *** The DLC track Dragon Driftway is associated with Lakitu. |
| 390 | *** [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Hyrule Circuit]] for Link. |
| 391 | *** The Franchise/AnimalCrossing track for the two Villagers and Isabelle. |
| 392 | *** In ''Deluxe'', the battle course Urchin Underpass is obviously one to the Inklings. |
| 393 | *** Yoshi's Island in the Booster Course Pass for Yoshi. |
| 394 | ** ''Mario Kart Tour'' |
| 395 | *** New York Minute can be associated with Pauline because of the similarities to [[VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey New Donk City]]. |
| 396 | *** Ninja Hideaway for Shy Guys (especially their ninja variant), and also Wario because of the course's motif. |
| 397 | *** Piranha Plant Cove is obviously one for Petey Piranha. |
| 398 | * HomingProjectile: Red Shells and the dreaded Spiny Shells, as well the special items Yoshi Eggs and Birdo Eggs from ''Double Dash!!'' and ''Tour''. |
| 399 | * HotPotato: |
| 400 | ** If you're in first place, you can avoid being struck by an incoming Spiny Shell by letting the racer behind you take the lead, getting ''them'' blown up instead. As a result, it's not uncommon for two players competing neck-and-neck to panic and try to wrestle second place from each other before the Spiny Shell arrives. |
| 401 | ** ''Wii'' has the Thunder Cloud, which gives a ten-second warning before it zaps you, shrinking you temporarily, but you can pass it to someone else by exchanging contact with them. It does, however, give you a slight speed boost (and the ability to drive off-road without losing speed), making it a double-edged sword. |
| 402 | ** Battle Modes involving the Shine Sprite are a reverse version of this, where whoever is holding onto the single Single Sprite when time runs out is the winner. |
| 403 | * HumanCannonball: The series has many tracks, often those based on the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' series, where you and your vehicle get launched out of a cannon with tremendous speed. These are, namely, DK Mountain from ''VideoGame/MarioKartDoubleDash'', Waluigi Pinball in ''VideoGame/MarioKartDS'', and DK Summit and Maple Treeway in ''VideoGame/MarioKartWii'' (DK Mountain from ''Double Dash!!'' is featured here as well). |
| 404 | [[/folder]] |
| 405 | |
| 406 | [[folder:I - P]] |
| 407 | * AnIcePerson: Introduced in ''Tour'', Ice Flowers are exclusive special items for certain characters. |
| 408 | * IncredibleShrinkingMan: The Lightning item causes this to the racers, resulting with them losing their items and reducing top speed. In some games, this also leaves other racers open to being flattened. In ''Super Mario Kart'', Peach and Toad ([[SecretAIMoves when under computer control]]) could throw Poison Mushrooms that shrank anyone unfortunate to collide with one. |
| 409 | * InsectQueen: Queen Bee is a playable character in ''Mario Kart 7''. |
| 410 | * InterfaceScrew: |
| 411 | ** Bloopers (Mario-universe squid), introduced in ''DS'', cover your opponents' screens in black ink, obscuring their forward view. (This is also visible by painting the entire vehicle/driver black.) It even has an effect on the AI, causing them to swerve and slow down a notch when it's in effect. The ink can be removed early by hitting a booster or ramp, however. In ''Tour'', ink can also be removed by wiping the screen. |
| 412 | ** In one of ''DS'''s Battle Courses, cake frosting has the same effect. |
| 413 | * InvincibilityPowerUp: The Super Star item not only makes you invincible and speeds you up, but on top of that, you can drive off-road without speed loss, and in some games, you can crash your way through minor obstacles with impunity, sending them flying or otherwise destroying them. |
| 414 | * InvincibleMinorMinion: |
| 415 | ** The Thwomps on Rainbow Road in the SNES version are star powered, causing you to spin out and lose coins from even touching them. Strictly speaking, though, they aren't invincible (they can be destroyed by a racer with star power). They reappear the next lap. |
| 416 | ** The Rainbow Thwomps reappear in the NostalgiaLevel version of the SNES track in ''7'' and ''8'', and this time they also cause the track to ripple and shake whenever they pound the ground. They still cause you to spin out if you so much as touch them. |
| 417 | ** In the Bowser Castle tracks, such as those on ''Wii'', the Thwomps do cause the track to shake if you happen to be by one when it pounds the ground, but instead of spinning you out, you can be crushed by one if you happen to have poor timing, so it helps to study the Thwomps and the sequence in which they come down. |
| 418 | * ItsAWonderfulFailure: |
| 419 | ** Fail to be one of the top three racers at the end of a Grand Prix and you'll miss out on the victory ceremony. The SNES installment showed your racer sitting aside the victory podium quietly sobbing to themselves, while ''64'' showed your racer watching the victory celebration from a distance before getting chased down and blown up by a Bomb Kart. ''Super Circuit'' had the stand outright crush you. Later games simply give a "Better luck next time!" message with a chart showing your overall results. |
| 420 | ** Scoring outside the top three is actually [[EarnYourBadEnding rather difficult]] in the SNES, N64, and GBA installments, where if you fail to finish within the top four of ''any'' race, you lose one life and are forced to retry that course instead of proceeding on to the next. Later games allow you to proceed through all the courses in a Grand Prix cup, but as usual, you'll only get a trophy for finishing in the top three. |
| 421 | * JackOfAllStats: Mario, as in every spinoff, as well as others in the Medium class like Luigi. |
| 422 | * JungleJapes: |
| 423 | ** DK's Jungle Parkway from ''64'' and ''Wii''. |
| 424 | ** DK Mountain from ''Double Dash'' and ''Wii''. |
| 425 | ** Riverside Park and Lakeside Park from ''Super Circuit'' (the former of which also appeared in ''Tour'' and ''8 Deluxe'''s DLC). The revisit of the SNES Donut Plains courses in ''Super Circuit'' also qualify, as they use the visuals from Riverside Park rather than the original SNES aesthetics. |
| 426 | ** Dino Dino Jungle from ''Double Dash!!'', ''7'' and ''Tour''. |
| 427 | ** DK Jungle from ''7'' and ''8''. |
| 428 | ** Wild Woods, a DLC course from ''8''. |
| 429 | * KidAppealCharacter: No ''Mario Kart'' game has ever been complete without one. At least Toad and Yoshi appeared in every installment. |
| 430 | ** 14 out of 30 (non-DLC) characters in ''8'' form the kid-appeal half of said game's roster. |
| 431 | ** Toadette, Baby Daisy, and Baby Rosalina are those who respectively originated in ''Double Dash!!'', ''Wii'', and ''8''. |
| 432 | * KidsDrivingCars: Since ''Double Dash'', baby versions of Mario characters are able to drive cars alongside their adult counterparts. Certain games even have cars that are specifically designed for them. Bowser Jr. also counts. |
| 433 | * LethalLavaLand: Often Bowser's Castle, which is in every game, but other tracks also feature lava, such as Grumble Volcano in ''Wii'', where parts of the track actually collapse (look for the cracks in the track the first time by and just be aware that those sections might be gone by the time you get back around). |
| 434 | * LevelAte: |
| 435 | ** Cheese Land in ''VideoGame/MarioKartSuperCircuit''. Doubles as CheesyMoon, since you can see Earth in the background. |
| 436 | ** ''VideoGame/MarioKartDoubleDash'' has the battle stage Cookie Land, a circular course modeled after a large vanilla-and-chocolate cookie with caramels of different colors. It makes a return in ''VideoGame/MarioKartWii''. |
| 437 | ** ''VideoGame/MarioKartDS'' has the battle level Tart Top, which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: A level set on the top of a tart. Complete with strawberry cream puffs, cherries and love hearts as decoration. It makes a return in ''VideoGame/MarioKart7''. |
| 438 | ** Sweet Sweet Canyon in ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'' is made of various dessert foods. The audience of Toads, Goombas, Koopa Troopas, and Shy Guys are made of gingerbread as well. The second DLC pack for the game, as well as the ''Deluxe'' port from the get-go, also includes a major overhaul of GBA Cheese Land. ''Deluxe'' also adds Sweet Sweet Kingdom to the revamped Battle Mode, and its own DLC has its own ice cream-themed track in the form of Sky-High Sundae. |
| 439 | * LevelInReverse: |
| 440 | ** The Mirror Cups take the courses and mirror them horizontally, forcing you to then have to relearn your way around the track, with left hand turns becoming right turns. |
| 441 | ** ''Tour'' includes "R" variants of courses, which have you race from what's usually the finish line back to the "start". |
| 442 | * LevelMapDisplay: All the games have a map of the course you're racing on. |
| 443 | * LevelInTheClouds: |
| 444 | ** Sky Garden, a track from ''Super Circuit'', which returned in ''DS'', ''Tour'' and ''8 Deluxe'''s DLC. In its first two appearances, it's part of the Lightning Cup, and is a racetrack made of a cobble road suspended in the sky, bridges made of vine wires, and clouds that outline it. Large beanstalks can be seen in the background. |
| 445 | ** Cloudtop Cruise in ''8'', part of the Special Cup. The sunny half of the course is safe to drive across, but the stormy side has the clouds drop lightning bolts at the dash panels, and getting struck by them will shrink you. |
| 446 | * LightningBruiser: The Parade Kart in ''Double Dash!!'', since it's heavy, has good acceleration, and high top speed. |
| 447 | * LightningCanDoAnything: Lightning has the decidedly odd effect of shrinking characters temporarily, except for characters who fall into bottomless pits [[ViolationOfCommonSense or have just been fired out of a cannon in games prior to ''7'']]. Or characters who are invincible due to having used a star, but that at least sort of makes sense... |
| 448 | * LikeADuckTakesToWater: Go-karts and bikes (as well as any sort of motorized land vehicles [[VideoGame/TheLegendofZeldaSpiritTracks except trains]], for that matter) don't even exist in [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Hyrule]], yet, Link apparently knows how to drive go-karts and motorcycles by the time he decides to race against the Mario characters (as well as [[Franchise/AnimalCrossing Isabelle and the Villager]]) within the game's Grand Prix. {{Lampshade}}d by his DLC tag line. |
| 449 | --> Link can drive?! |
| 450 | * LimitedAnimation: The portable ''DS'' and ''7'' have only your character with full animations while everyone else on your screen are stiff (and they're even rendered with less polygons to boot). This was most likely done to prevent the system from being taxed and keep things running smoothly. ''Tour'' also have this, only when setting to power-saving mode. |
| 451 | * LuckBasedMission: Part of the appeal of the series where if the skill gap between players isn't too far off, a player lagging behind has a chance of winning if they get the right item. However, this is also very controversial with the competitive scene/skilled players due to throw a single item like the Spiny Shell can instantly turn a victory into a loss (especially during the final lap). It also does not help that this trope is in full effect when it comes to playing against the game's RubberbandAI. The trope is softened somewhat in a few of the games in the series that allow the players to change what type of items can be spawned in a local multiplayer game plus certain items being retooled (or removed entirely). |
| 452 | * LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: In the ''Arcade GP'' games, performing a drift will create a shield around your kart as long as you're drifting, rendering you immune to projectile attacks. |
| 453 | * MadeOfIron: All the characters can shake off explosions, lightning strikes, and falling into lava easily. |
| 454 | * MadLibsDialogue: The ''Arcade GP'' games, from the second title onwards, are guilty of this. |
| 455 | * MarathonLevel: |
| 456 | ** ''64'''s version of Rainbow Road. It is by far the longest track in the series, taking approximately 2 minutes to complete a lap. It's so long it was reduced to one lap in ''8''. |
| 457 | ** The All-Cup Tour in ''Double Dash!!'' is, well, all sixteen tracks one after the other. It always starts with Luigi Circuit and always ends with Rainbow Road, and the remaining fourteen tracks are played in a random order. |
| 458 | * MascotMook: Koopa Troopas have been playable off-and-on since the first game. Other playable "mook" characters include Paratroopa, Dry Bones, Lakitu, Shy Guy, Wiggler, Hammer Bro (plus his boomerang, fire and ice counterparts), and Monty Mole. |
| 459 | * MascotRacer: The games are all about wacky characters using wacky weapons on wacky tracks. The series still defines the genre, as most games still follow the mold codified by these games. |
| 460 | * MercyInvincibility: Zig-zagged. Spinning out makes you immune to being spun out again until the animation is finished, but you are still open to harder hitting attacks that makes you tumble, such as shells. If you are hit by a shell or a similar powerful attack, you can't be hit by anything else again until the animation stops. For ''Super Mario Kart'' and ''Super Circuit'', there's absolutely no mercy invincibility at all; not only is it possible to get beaned by items several times in a row without a way to recover quickly, but getting rammed repeatedly will drain your coins alarmingly fast. |
| 461 | * MetropolisLevel: Some games in the series have introduced racetracks set in urban cities, like Toad's Turnpike in ''64'', Mushroom City in ''Double Dash!!'' and Moonview Highway in ''Wii''. Most notably, the majority of new tracks in ''Tour'' are directly inspired by real-life cities and have you race through routes that follow real-life streets through the city centers, passing multiple notable landmarks on the way. |
| 462 | * MickeyMousing: |
| 463 | ** Music Park in ''7'' and ''8''. On several curves, you drive over piano and xylophone keyboards, adding layers to the track's music, a tambourine is utilized like a bouncy mushroom, Piranha Plants bob their heads to the music and bite you within the beat, and giant music notes stomp to the music, creating shockwaves. |
| 464 | ** The Electrodrome track in ''8'' continues the trend, being themed after a nightclub. Driving over giant synthesizers adds harmony to the music, a certain anti-gravity area muffles the music, and the curve right before the final glider ramp includes drops punctuated by additional beats. |
| 465 | ** In any course from ''8'' featuring Shy Guys, as you drive by you can hear them chanting in time with the music. |
| 466 | ** The [[MightyGlacier Badwagon]]'s light and stereo speakers move to the tempo of the music. |
| 467 | * MightyGlacier: The "slow to start, hard to stop" variant. Heavy karts have sluggish acceleration, but great top speed once they get going, and are able to smack lighter karts around the track. Bowser is always ''the'' heavyweight of the series while Donkey Kong and Wario are often more balanced. |
| 468 | * MinskyPickup: |
| 469 | ** At the beginning of Baby Park's theme in ''Double Dash!!'', ''DS'', and ''8''. |
| 470 | ** The music for Moo Moo Farm and Yoshi Valley in ''64'', ''DS'', and ''8''. |
| 471 | * MsFanservice: Peach, Daisy and Rosalina have access to skin tight racing suits which shows off their figures (especially their hips) very nicely. Daisy and Rosalina also have the option to wear cute swimsuits in Mario Kart Tour and Pauline is this trope by default, a fact that would only become even more apparent once she was added to ''Mario Kart 8'', where she can use a biker suit like Peach, Daisy and Rosalina. |
| 472 | * MultiplayerDifficultySpike: There's RubberbandAI that likes to GangUpOnTheHuman in single-player mode, but it still can't make a good use of items and shortcuts. Enter the online mode, where you will have your ass handed to you nearly constantly by players who pick the best driving character and kart, take advantage of all the shortcuts, and maximize chaos on the road by spamming items. |
| 473 | * MultiSlotCharacter: |
| 474 | ** ''VideoGame/MarioKartSuperCircuit'' had Red Yoshi, Light Blue Yoshi and Yellow Yoshi as multiplayer exclusive characters in addition to Yoshi himself. |
| 475 | ** ''VideoGame/MarioKartDoubleDash'' introduced Baby Mario and Baby Luigi as a playable duo, with both characters returning in Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 8. |
| 476 | ** ''VideoGame/MarioKartWii'' added Baby Peach and Baby Daisy and addition to the baby versions of the Mario Bros. Dry Bowser is also a seperate racer from his living counterpart. |
| 477 | ** ''VideoGame/MarioKart7'' introduced Metal Mario, a character who had history in other Mario spinoffs as a hidden character. |
| 478 | ** ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'' brought back the baby versions of the Mario Bros, Peach and Daisy and added one for Rosalina. Pink Gold Peach was also introduced in this game, serving as Metal Mario's DistaffCounterpart. The DLC packs introduced [[VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand Tanooki Mario]], [[VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld Cat Peach]], Dry Bowser and colour variants for Yoshi and Shy Guy. The ''Deluxe'' version added in the DLC characters at launch and added gendered variants for Inkling and Villager while adding Gold Mario[[note]]who was an alternate costume for Metal Mario in Mario Golf and not based off of the form seen in New Super Mario Bros 2.[[/note]] as the sole unlockable character. |
| 479 | ** ''VideoGame/MarioKartTour'': Most of the characters have alternate versions of them in different costumes to incentive players to get them, due to the game being free-to-play and previously featured Gacha elements. |
| 480 | * MusicalNod: |
| 481 | ** The "Final Lap" jingle is the iconic "Hurry Up!" jingle from the main ''Mario'' series. Appropiately, the track's music is also sped up during the final lap. |
| 482 | ** The results music in ''7'' is the results music from ''64'', just with a differently-pitched melody line. |
| 483 | ** The Rainbow Road music tracks from ''Double Dash'' and ''7'' include part of the ''64'' Rainbow Road theme. |
| 484 | ** ''7'''s Bowser's Castle music includes part of the ''Double Dash!!'' one. |
| 485 | ** Neo Bowser City contains nods to Toad's Turnpike, ''Wii''[='s=] Circuits, and ''64''[='s=] Raceways. |
| 486 | ** DK Jungle's music in ''7'' rearranges the jungle theme from ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1''. |
| 487 | ** Rock Rock Mountain's music bears resemblance to "It's a Dead Heat" from ''VideoGame/MarioParty 8''. |
| 488 | ** Wario Shipyard has a quick nod to the main theme of ''VideoGame/WarioLandSuperMarioLand3''. |
| 489 | ** The Results music for Mario (and to an extent, Bowser) in ''Super Mario Kart'' is based on the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' theme. |
| 490 | ** Piranha Plant Slide's music in ''7'' contains nods to the Above Ground and Underground themes of ''Super Mario Bros. 1''. |
| 491 | ** Bowser's Castle of ''Wii'' is actually a slowed-down Maple Treeway theme. |
| 492 | ** It's subtle, but part of Bowser's Castle theme in ''DS'' is actually a remixed version of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3''[='s=] Dark Land (World 8) theme. |
| 493 | ** Sweet Sweet Canyon in ''8'' has a pint of the World 1 theme from ''Super Mario Land''. |
| 494 | ** Cloudtop Cruise in ''8'' remixes the Gusty Garden Galaxy theme from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''. |
| 495 | ** When near the Aqua Cups ride in ''8''[='s=] Water Park, the haunted carousel theme from ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' can be faintly heard. |
| 496 | ** Mute City and Big Blue in ''8'' replace the usual race intro and results themes with their equivalents from ''VideoGame/FZero''. |
| 497 | ** The results music for ''Tour'' is inspired from the results music from ''7'', which is the arrangement from ''64'' |
| 498 | ** At the beginning of the main theme for ''Tour'' (though heard in trailers) is a nod to the opening movie music from ''Wii''. |
| 499 | ** The main menu themes for the first two ''Arcade GP'' games include arrangements of the ''Super Mario Bros. 1'' overworld theme. ''Arcade GP DX'' instead uses several nods to ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld''. |
| 500 | * MyRulesAreNotYourRules: Especially in early installments like ''Super Mario Kart'', the AI definitely is a cheating bastard. The AI plays more fair in later installments, but still gives the impression of [[GangUpOnTheHuman all teaming up against the player.]] |
| 501 | * MythologyGag: |
| 502 | ** The [[VideoGame/FZero Mute City and Big Blue]] DLC tracks in ''8'' have no coins at all. You gain them instead by going over the rainbow-colored pads, just like how you would restore health in the ''F-Zero'' games. On Big Blue, reaching the final segment causes the ''F-Zero X'' announcer to exclaim, "Yeah! The final lap!" |
| 503 | ** A billboard on Toad Harbor in ''8'' advertises Shy Guy Metals, "since 1987". Besides foreshadowing Shy Guy Falls, which closes out the Flower Cup, it is also a reference to ''VideoGame/DokiDokiPanic'', which was the Shy Guys' debut in 1987. Their technical ''Mario'' debut was in 1988. |
| 504 | ** In ''Tour'', certain costumes for Mario and Peach originated from various promotional art and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey''. |
| 505 | ** Some trick voice clips for Pauline references the lyrics from [[VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey Jump Up Superstar]]. |
| 506 | * {{Nerf}}: |
| 507 | ** The gimping of power sliding and the removal of "snaking" in ''Wii''. |
| 508 | *** In ''DS'', a very simple technique called "snaking" allowed karts with very certain drift and acceleration stats being balanced to each other to attain very high speed via the speed boosts from repeated drifting, even on straightaways. This was just as effective in ''Double Dash!!'', albeit with drift angle and speed boost length being the same for every kart. The developers of ''Wii'', ''7'', and ''8'' took note of this and completely overhauled the mini-turbo system, making it truer to ''Super Mario Kart'' and ''Super Circuit'' in how the boost was attained by drifting for a longer time around a corner. |
| 509 | ** The overhead map feature from ''DS'' had a slight nerf in ''7''; the map no longer shows active course hazards like Bullet Bills or Goombas so the Blooper item could be more dangerous if you had relied on reading the map in the DS game. |
| 510 | ** The shortcut in N64 Koopa Troopa Beach was cut very short in ''7'' and now requires a mushroom. |
| 511 | ** ''7'' nerfed the [[InvincibilityPowerUp Super Star]] item, making its speed boost a lot less powerful compared to the other games, but it still is useful for cutting through grass and dirt for an improvised shortcut. |
| 512 | ** In ''64'', there were hidden special item blocks on Luigi Raceway and Koopa Troopa Beach that were always guaranteed to give you a spiny shell. When these retro courses reappeared on ''7'', the block on Luigi Raceway was changed to a normal block and, on Koopa Troopa Beach, it was replaced with a coin. |
| 513 | ** In ''DS'', there was also a special hidden item block on DK Pass that would usually give anyone who gets it a star or triple mushrooms, and less often a single mushroom or even a red shell. When DK Pass came back for ''7'', the item block's chances were changed to give single mushrooms more often than three mushrooms or a star. |
| 514 | ** The Bullet Bill, an item introduced in ''DS'', was heavily nerfed in ''7'' and ''8'', traveling much slower than it did previously. |
| 515 | ** The Lightning item was changed slightly in ''DS''; rather than having everyone stay shrunk for a fixed amount of time, the amount of time one stays small depends on what position you were in when you got hit. The further up you are in position, the longer you will stay small, while doing worse in a race will have you return to normal within seconds. |
| 516 | ** In ''Wii'', red shells home in on enemies even when thrown backward. In ''7'', they behave like green shells in that regard, and only home in when thrown forward. |
| 517 | ** Bikes in ''8'' were redesigned so that they can no longer pop wheelies. To compensate, their mini-turbos work the same as a kart plus bikes can cut corners better than a kart can. |
| 518 | ** In general, players can no longer hold two items at once in the regular version of ''8'' unlike all of the previous games, weakening their protections against incoming projectiles. Said protection gets ''another'' nerf in the form of coins becoming common items for leaders, which now forces players to think whether they should risk using items to slow down opponents or get a Super Horn to destroy Spiny Shells, or keep the item for protection before it gets used away to grab another item box. ''8 Deluxe'' allows the player to hold two items at once. |
| 519 | ** The Spiny Shells in ''8'' no longer stun for as long and don't appear as often; and it also received an indirect nerf with the availability of the Super Horn. The Spiny Shell also received an inadvertent nerf when it gained wings in ''Double Dash!!''. Supposedly, this addition increased the shell's speed and reliability in hitting the racer in first, but denied its ability to hit any racer in between, actually cutting its overall effectiveness for the user as a ComebackMechanic. The developers soon realized this and removed the wings by ''7''. |
| 520 | ** Bob-ombs were nerfed heavily from ''7'' on, taking about twice as long to explode. |
| 521 | ** In ''8'', Lakitu's BottomlessPitRescueService appears nearly instantly after a driver falls off course. In previous games, there was a delay of a few seconds before they were set back on the track, invariably costing the player in question several positions. In addition to that, falling into a pit no longer makes you lose all your items. |
| 522 | * NitroBoost: Mushrooms, translating their purpose from the original series, grant a short burst of speed. |
| 523 | * NoOSHACompliance: A fair chunk of the levels in the series qualify as this. |
| 524 | * NostalgiaLevel: |
| 525 | ** ''Super Circuit'' includes all twenty tracks from the original SNES game. |
| 526 | ** From ''DS'' on, the Retro Grand Prix. Four cups (Shell, Banana, Leaf, and Lightning, in that order) with four assorted tracks from previous games, usually tweaked for the new game's mechanics. ''7'' and ''8'' even finish off the Lightning Cup with an old Rainbow Road (''Super Mario Kart''[='s=] and ''64''[='s=], respectively). |
| 527 | ** ''7'''s DK Jungle is practically a love letter to ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'', since Retro Studios designed it. |
| 528 | ** ''7'' 's Shy Guy Bazaar is a major shout out not only to ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'', but to ''VideoGame/DokiDokiPanic'', considering the Arabian setting. |
| 529 | ** Airship Fortress, Figure-8 Circuit, and Desert Hills all contain references to ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' (the airship levels, the platforms, and all of World 2, respectively). |
| 530 | ** Piranha Plant Slide is one giant homage to [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 the original game]]. |
| 531 | ** All the retro tracks in ''8'' take the trope to the next level by remaking the old tracks with updated HD visuals, new set pieces and remastered music. Not only do the retro tracks look and feel new with the upgrades, they also still play in a way most old fans would remember them for. On top of all this, some retro tracks use the anti gravity and glider mechanics to give the old tracks a fresher feel to them without deviating from the original design of the tracks. |
| 532 | ** ''Tour'' featured a variety of retro tracks. Some tracks, like Mario Circuit and Choco Island from ''Super'', also received "Remix" versions. |
| 533 | * NumberedSequels: The Platform/Nintendo3DS and Platform/WiiU installments, ''Mario Kart 7'' and ''Mario Kart 8''. Not only do they refer to actually being the seventh and eighth installments, but they also respectively refer to the LuckySeven and the Möbius strip. |
| 534 | * ObviousRulePatch: Bikes in ''8'' were changed slightly by not allowing the player to pop a wheelie for boosts of speed, which now makes bikes more on par with karts. Bikes in ''Wii'' trumped karts so much that it was impossible to find any time trial record that ''wasn't'' a bike user and online play was also mostly a bike user game. |
| 535 | * OldSaveBonus: Installing ''Wii'' on a console that has a ''Super Mario Galaxy'' save is beneficial in that it ramps down the requirements for unlocking Rosalina by several notches (from ranking 1 star in every cup on Mirror - or playing 4,950 races to... merely playing 50 races). |
| 536 | * OminousPipeOrgan: |
| 537 | ** The Bowser's Castle music from ''Double Dash!!'' has this. The regular Bowser's Castle levels for ''DS'' and ''7'' feature parts of the GCN medley. |
| 538 | ** A few of the haunted courses also use this motif, such as Luigi's Mansion from ''DS'' and Twisted Mansion from ''8''. |
| 539 | * OncePerEpisode: |
| 540 | ** Each game will have the same cup names - Mushroom, Flower, Star and Special for new courses, and Shell, Banana, Leaf and Lightning for old courses. The sole exception is ''Super Circuit'' which Lightning Cup is a normal one between Flower and Star Cup, and whose retro cups (which are called "extra") have the same names as the normal ones. |
| 541 | ** The Mushroom Cup always starts with a standard circuit. It is [[VideoGame/MarioKart64 related to]] [[VideoGame/MarioKartDoubleDash Luigi in]] [[VideoGame/MarioKartWii three games]] and [[VideoGame/MarioKart7 in a fourth game]]'s retro cup. |
| 542 | ** A Mario Circuit appears in every game, almost always in the Flower Cup (''DS'' being an exception to this, as its Mario Circuit is in the Star Cup). |
| 543 | ** Every game has at least one [[PalmtreePanic beach related track]]: with the exception of ''Super Mario Kart'' (whose track is in Star Cup), the most traditional ones are in Mushroom Cup while Star Cup is used for more challenging and original tracks (''Wii'' Koopa Cape is closer to a theme park with a SharkTunnel while ''8'' [[FriendlyPlayfulDolphin Dolphin Shoals]] focus more on corals and waterfalls than beach). ''Super Mario Kart'' also has a second track in Special Cup while ''Super Circuit''[='s=] is in Lightning Cup, ''Double Dash'' has a ShipLevel which shares the same music in Flower Cup and ''7'' has an island exploration track which starts and ends on a beach in Star Cup. Starting from ''DS'', these tracks tend to be mirrored by {{port town}}s in Flower Cup (''Wii'' is the exception here, the port town track being in Star Cup, although Banana Cup brings back ''DS'' Delfino Square too). |
| 544 | ** Every game also has a [[SlippySlideyIceWorld snow and ice]] related level, usually in Star Cup. While ''Super Mario Kart'' and ''64'' have another level in other cups (Special and Flower Cups respectively), there are exceptions: ''Wii'' 's DK Summit is in Flower Cup and ''7'' 's Rosalina's Ice World is in Special Cup. |
| 545 | ** Starting from ''64'', every game has a [[ShiftingSandLand desert related track]]. However, they are never in the same cup and while the majority reminds of Egypt, others reminds of [[TheWildWest American deserts]] (''Super Circuit'' actually has the two examples in one game, ''Yoshi Desert'' and ''Sunset Wilds'' respectively). Shy Guy Bazaar of ''7'' is another exception, being inspired by ArabianNightsDays. |
| 546 | ** Between ''64'' and ''DS'' a least one Wario or Waluigi themed stadium styled after a dirt bike track would appear, typically in one of the final two cups. This trend seemed to end starting with the Wii title, barring the Retro Cups, even if Wario's dedicated tracks are still extreme in their conception. |
| 547 | ** Since ''Super Circuit'', each Special Cup always ends with Bowser's Castle and Rainbow Road. Since ''Mario Kart 7'', the Lightning Cup mirrors the Special Cup in this area, remaking a Rainbow Road (''Super Mario Kart'' 's in ''7'' and ''64'' 's in ''8''), and starting from ''Wii'', the third track is the final track in the Star Cup from two games prior ([[JungleJapes DK Mountain]] in ''Wii'', [[ThoseMagnificentFlyingMachines Airship Fortress]] in ''7'' and [[LethalLavaLand Grumble Volcano]] in ''8''). Notice that the latter two tracks also tend to mirror Bowser's castle. |
| 548 | ** Not counting spin-offs or Virtual Console rereleases, ''Mario Kart'' games generally tend to be limited to one main series installment per platform. |
| 549 | * OneHundredPercentCompletion: |
| 550 | ** Starting with ''64'', nearly every Mario Kart game requires a gold trophy in each cup and/or in each engine class to unlock new tracks or characters. A few other games in the series cranks it up by requiring a star rank or greater and getting at least one star in ''every'' cup and in ''every'' engine class gets you a star next to your name. |
| 551 | ** In ''8'', a set of 62 Miiverse stamps are added to the initial 18 by placing first in Grand Prix with each character, and beating Nintendo staff ghosts in every non-DLC course in Time Trials. An additional 10 were added in an update, bringing the total to 90 stamps. |
| 552 | * OneStatToRuleThemAll: |
| 553 | ** In general, acceleration is king when playing against [[RubberBandAI the AI]] since better acceleration lets you recover from spills quicker. Speed is the top stat for Time Trials since it's all about finishing tracks as quickly as possible, and there's no items to stop or slow you down. |
| 554 | ** Acceleration in ''Double Dash!!'' and ''DS'', Speed in ''Wii'', ''7'', and ''8'', and Handling for 200cc in ''8'' and ''Deluxe''. Other stuff is useful, but those are the ones good players end up focusing on. |
| 555 | * OutrunTheFireball: Starting with ''DS'', it's entirely possible to dodge a Spiny Shell's explosion. However, doing so in ''Wii'' and especially ''7'' requires a well timed mushroom boost (or a convenient cannon in ''Wii''), making some luck needed and being [[DifficultButAwesome hard]] to pull off. Starting in ''8'', the above all work, but you also have the Super Horn to destroy the Spiny Shell. In ''Tour'', doing the above techniques will give you bonus points for your score. |
| 556 | * PaletteSwap: |
| 557 | ** Every game in the series uses similar vehicles with some minor differences in performance and paintjobs. |
| 558 | ** There are also a few characters that have similar stats, but with different appearances and voice clips. Most glaringly, in ''8'', Metal Mario and Pink Gold Peach are a metallic Mario and Peach as heavyweights, and DLC characters Tanooki Mario and Cat Peach only have slightly different stats from their regular counterparts. ''Tour'' fully embraces this. |
| 559 | ** Lakitu is a playable character in ''7'' and ''8''. The playable Lakitu has a red shell to distinguish himself from the one that starts the race and rescues you when you fall off the track. |
| 560 | ** If you purchased both DLC packs for ''8'', you get a number of different colored Yoshis and Shy Guys. |
| 561 | * PalmtreePanic: The various beach-themed tracks. Notable obstacles are shallow and deep water (though beginning in ''7'' deep water can typically be driven through instead of being an obstacle), Cheep-Cheeps, and crabs (which in ''7'' look like Sidesteppers from ''VideoGame/MarioBros''). |
| 562 | * PinballZone: Waluigi Pinball in ''DS'', ''7'', ''Tour'' and ''8 Deluxe'''s DLC. The track is also notable in that the Boost Panel, item roulette and Lap 2 sounds are replaced with 8-bit, pinball sounding ones. |
| 563 | * PlayerDataSharing: Starting with ''Super Circuit'', players could share Ghost data for Time Trials, and ''Wii'' made it possible to do so over the internet. |
| 564 | * PlayerElimination: In the installments prior to ''Wii'', Balloon Battles are a last-man-standing game where you're out if you lose all your balloons. ''Double Dash!!'' has hard elimination, while the other games let you play on after you lose: ''64'' and ''Super Circuit'' turn you into a Mini Bomb Kart or a Bob-omb respectively, and the former permanently eliminates you if you explode. ''DS'' turns you into a ghost that can leave item boxes for the remaining players. |
| 565 | * PlayingWithFire: Fire Flowers were Mario and Luigi's special Item in ''Double Dash!!'', and they become proper items in ''7'' and ''8''. In ''Tour'', Fire Flowers are exclusive special items for certain characters. |
| 566 | * PoisonMushroom: |
| 567 | ** ''64'' introduced the "Fake Item Box", a hazard that resembles a normal item box; skilled players know that the best place to put one is on top of a real item box so that the other characters won't be able to know where it is. Strangely, it was removed starting with ''7''. |
| 568 | ** An actual Poison Mushroom appears in ''Super Mario Kart'' as Peach and Toad's item. It shrinks any of the drivers on contact. |
| 569 | ** The Thunder Cloud in ''Wii'' is ultimately one. Unlike other items, it immediately activates once obtained. While it increases the racer's top speed as it's active, it will shrink the racer after ten seconds unless it's passed off to someone else via contact. |
| 570 | ** When dropped, some items on the road can be driven into to use them. For some, this has a useful effect (Mushrooms give a speed boost, Super Stars give invincibility, etc). For others, however, it has a different, less useful effect (Lightning will only shrink the player, and Bloopers will only ink the player). |
| 571 | * PowerupLetdown: |
| 572 | ** The speed boost provided by a Super Mushroom in ''64'' is barely even noticeable, as a result of the development team nerfing the Super Mushroom due to complaints that it was a GameBreaker in the SNES original. Subsequent games have generally hit the right balance in terms of how much boost it provides. |
| 573 | ** The Blooper from the later games. It's supposedly to block your sight and make it hard to avoid obstacles... But it's not too hard to see through the gaps remaining and figure out what's going on anyway. Or just to look at the map on the bottom screen in ''DS'' or ''7''. On the bright side, the AI do act like drunken idiots when someone uses it against them, so it has some use as long as you're not going against human opponents. Come ''8'', though, the Blooper has the added effect of lowering traction as well, causing drivers to take wider swerves in turns. |
| 574 | ** The 2 coin item in ''Super Mario Kart'' and ''8''. You gain nothing to defend yourself with, and coins are easy enough to find on the track. And, if you already have maximum coins, it's completely useless. |
| 575 | * {{Prehistoria}}: Dino Dino Jungle from ''Double Dash!!'', ''7'' and ''Tour''. |
| 576 | * ProductPlacement: |
| 577 | ** Starting in ''64'', billboards for in-universe products are scattered through the tracks. ''8'' takes it a bit further, as the products advertised have to do with racing, such as motor oil or batteries, along with the logos for these fictional companies being decals on certain vehicle bodies implying that they also sponsor for the racers. [[spoiler:The logos even appear in the end credits, as if the game itself was advertising the brands!]] Taken a step further in ''Mario Kart Tour'' - several of the gliders in that game have these fictional companies' logos on them, suggesting that they're a team sponsor (of course, multiple people could be using the same glider in a race). |
| 578 | ** In a more literal example, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6FmIKSqTKo Mercedes-Benz]] shaped karts appear as free DLC in ''8''. |
| 579 | * ProlongedVideoGameSequel: |
| 580 | ** ''VideoGame/MarioKartSuperCircuit'' has ten racing cups (five based on new tracks, and five featuring rearranged tracks from ''Super Mario Kart''), whereas ''Super'' itself, ''64'' and the later ''Double Dash!!'' have only 5, 4 and 5 respectively. |
| 581 | ** ''VideoGame/MarioKartDS'' brought back the idea of NostalgiaLevel cups, this time including retro tracks from all of its predecessors, ramping the amount to eight cups. This has been a steady amount for the following games until ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'' (first by way of DownloadableContent and then with its ''Deluxe'' port on the Platform/NintendoSwitch) provided another major bump for a total of '''twelve''' cups plus a fifth difficulty level (200cc). Then the ''Deluxe'' port got its own DLC via the Booster Course Pass, adding to a total of '''twenty-four''' cups! |
| 582 | [[/folder]] |
| 583 | |
| 584 | [[folder:Q - Z]] |
| 585 | * RacingTheTrain: |
| 586 | ** Kalimari Desert in ''64'', ''7'', ''Tour'' and ''8 Deluxe'''s DLC has a train that runs on a continuous clockwise loop that also means the race course has two grade crossings. It can be this trope, though, especially given how being forced to slow down at either grade crossing to wait for the train to pass totally wastes a lot of time. So it means a lot of karts racing towards the grade crossing as the train races by, and the odd too slow racer smashing right into it. You can also either try and outrun the train round the track in the Nintendo 64 version by racing ahead through the tunnel. Or in the ''7'' version, you can fly straight over it with a glider ramp and/or just take a star and just drive straight through, sending the train flying into the air. ''Tour'' introduced Kalimari Desert 2, which let you drive along the tracks (which was later implemented into the ''8 Deluxe'' version). |
| 587 | ** N64 Rainbow Road in ''8'' has a magical train that drops off coins along the track. |
| 588 | ** Super Bell Subway in the second DLC pack for ''8'' has drivers racing in a subway system with active trains. |
| 589 | * RankInflation: Starting with ''Super Circuit'', then the DS and Wii games. If an A rank is not enough for you, try to get 1,2, or 3 stars. ''Wii'' ups the ante and requires you to at least 1 star some cups to unlock certain extra content [[note]]such as getting at least one star in all the 50cc cups to unlock Baby Daisy[[/note]]. ''7'' only has stars, from zero to three depending on how quickly you clear each cup. |
| 590 | * RealityWarping: Some Items mess with the games' physics. E.g., the Boo (gives you both {{Intangibility}} and [[PowerParasite someone else's Item]]) and the Lightning (both [[ShrinkRay Shrinks]] everyone else and gives them InterfaceScrew). |
| 591 | * {{Retcon}}: Several characters' weight classes have been changed over the years: |
| 592 | ** Peach and Yoshi were originally lightweight in ''64'', then being made middleweight in ''Double Dash!!''. Interestingly, Nintendo's very inconsistent with their weight throughout the series, being back to light characters in ''DS'' and ''7'' and back again to medium characters in ''Wii'' and ''8''. |
| 593 | ** Diddy Kong and Bowser Jr. were lightweight characters in ''Double Dash!!'', but were rectified to being middleweights in ''Wii''. ''8 Deluxe'' makes Bowser Jr. a lightweight again. |
| 594 | ** Waluigi was a middleweight in ''Double Dash!!'' and ''DS'', but has been changed to heavyweight in ''Wii''. In ''8'', he's a class in-between. |
| 595 | * RewardingVandalism: In ''DS'', destroying boxes reveals mushrooms which give an instant speed boost. ''Wii'' keeps the boxes and, on Maple Treeway, adds leaf-piles that may also reveal mushrooms or other items (usually banana peels). In ''7'', you can also bump the cardboard Goombas in Piranha Plant Slide, vases in Shy Guy Bazaar and barrels in DK Jungle to get some items. In ''Tour'', destroying these and other items in courses (whether via firing shells or just crashing into them) gives bonus points as well as extends combos. |
| 596 | * RibcageRidge: Bone Dry Dunes from ''8'' features a desert landscape with several gigantic bones scattered around the course, as well as forming part of it. |
| 597 | * ARiddleWrappedInAMysteryInsideAnEnigma: Wario's official profile in ''Double Dash!!'' states that he is "a puzzle, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in yellow." |
| 598 | * TheRival: |
| 599 | ** A feature that debuted in ''Super Mario Kart'', and then returned in ''7''. Depending on who the player drives as, there will be certain characters that perform better and be more persistent. For example, Mario's two rivals in ''7'' are Bowser and Metal Mario. |
| 600 | ** If people are tagged with ''7''[='=]s [[Platform/Nintendo3DS StreetPass]] feature, their Mii may show up sometimes in Grand Prix mode to be an extra rival. Their Mii will also act as a rival in their customized Grand Prix. |
| 601 | * RobotMe: Robo Mario, of which there are two. Both were made by E. Gadd, and have no personality to speak of, other than being very cheatsy by being able to produce an endless stream of bananas. |
| 602 | * RollercoasterMine: Wario's Gold Mine from ''Wii'' and the first DLC pack in ''8'' - with drops, rises, jumps, and even a section where you are dodging mine carts. |
| 603 | * RubberBandAI: |
| 604 | ** Amplified by the fact that racers in the back get more powerful items such as the Spiny Shell (which homes in on the leader), as well as by [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard the computer being a cheating bastard.]] |
| 605 | ** It's interesting to note that the AI players' driving is calibrated at differing strengths depending on the player's choice of driver. For example, if you play as Bowser in ''7'', Mario and Luigi will be your most aggressive opponents in single-player GP. |
| 606 | * RuinsForRuinsSake: |
| 607 | ** Dry Dry Ruins in ''Wii''. |
| 608 | ** Thwomp Ruins in ''8''. |
| 609 | * SameContentDifferentRating: Subverted with ''7'', which boasted an E10+ rating (for Comic Mischief and nothing else, oddly) in trailers for the game. Apparently the ESRB changed their minds. |
| 610 | * SameLanguageDub: Happened between the Japanese and International releases of ''64''. All the characters spoke English in the Japanese version, but some characters had their voices changed since they sounded goofy. The announcer in Japan also had an American accent, instead of just being Mario. |
| 611 | * SchmuckBait: |
| 612 | ** You might expect picking up a stray Blooper might help you in ''7''. It actually will ink just you alone. |
| 613 | ** ''8'' has some areas and turns that look like good places to drift but doing so would result in going off course or into a wall in almost all cases--such as the mini-turn after the waterfalls in Shy Guy Falls, the winding road prior to the finish line in Dolphin Shoals, and the cave with sand dunes in Bone-Dry Dunes. |
| 614 | * ScreenCrunch: ''Mario Kart Tour'' drew a lot of criticism upon its release for displaying in ''portrait'' mode instead of landscape like most mobile racers. This meant that the player couldn't see the side of the road, which gave it a bunch of TrialAndErrorGameplay for new players. |
| 615 | * SelectiveGravity: In ''8'', the anti-gravity sections seem to only affect vehicles and not the characters themselves, since a character's hair will fall in whatever direction gravity is actually going in (if Peach is riding upside down, her hair will look like it floats upwards, for example). It seems like everyone's put glue on their heads, then, since no one ever loses their headgear. And, naturally, items are perfectly capable of sticking to the road. |
| 616 | * ShiftingSandLand: Some sort of desert track is also common in the series, but the king of this has to be the Thwomp Desert battle arena on ''Wii''. |
| 617 | * ShockAndAwe: The Lightning Bolt. Starting with ''Double Dash!!'', the lightning bolt creates an electric aura around the victim(s) who are hit by the item; the Thunder Cloud item from ''Wii'' also uses this concept. |
| 618 | * ShoutOut: |
| 619 | ** The Japanese version of ''64'' contain several. The most famous of them is probably the orange 64 ball, which is a parody of the Union 76 ball. |
| 620 | ** One of the possible driving styles in ''7'' is [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Loftwing]] Aviator. |
| 621 | ** One kart body in ''8'' is a submarine named the [[VideoGame/SteelDiver Steel Driver]]. |
| 622 | ** One kart in ''Wii'' is the [[VideoGame/FZero Blue Falcon]]. It reappears in ''8'' as DLC along with Mute City and Big Blue based courses. |
| 623 | ** A ''[[Franchise/KungFuPanda Kung Fu Lakitu]]'' inspired poster appears on the bedroom wall in ''8'' 's remake of Ribbon Road. |
| 624 | ** The Lucky 7 item refers to both 7 being a traditional "lucky number" as well as the lucky 7 that often appears in slot machines. Bonus points for the Item display being patterned after one. |
| 625 | ** The Crazy 8 is named for the traditional card game Crazy Eights. |
| 626 | * SimpleYetAwesome: Red Shells are far more accurate and precise than Green Shells[[note]]Then again, they do home in on the other racers.[[/note]] and much more instantly reliable than Spiny Shells. |
| 627 | * SkillGateCharacters: The [[FragileSpeedster Light]] karts can easily recover from error, but they're the slowest karts in almost every entry. |
| 628 | * SkyscraperCity: |
| 629 | ** The battle stage Skyscraper in ''64''. |
| 630 | ** Mushroom City in ''Double Dash!!''. |
| 631 | ** Moonview Highway in ''Wii''. |
| 632 | ** N64 Toad's Turnpike (first appearing in ''64'' as a more generic urban course) in ''8''. |
| 633 | * SlippySlideyIceWorld: |
| 634 | ** The Vanilla Lake tracks in ''Super Mario Kart'', ''Super Circuit'' and ''Tour''. |
| 635 | ** Frappe Snowland in ''64'', ''DS'', and ''Tour''. |
| 636 | ** Sherbet Land in ''64'' and ''Wii''. |
| 637 | ** Snow Land in ''Super Circuit'', ''8 Deluxe'''s DLC and ''Tour''. |
| 638 | ** Sherbet Land (no relation to the one from ''64'') in ''Double Dash!!'' and ''8''. |
| 639 | ** DK Pass in ''DS'', ''7'', and ''Tour''. |
| 640 | ** DK Summit in ''Wii'', ''Tour'' and ''8 Deluxe'''s DLC[[note]]In ''Wii'' and ''8 Deluxe'', the track is known as DK's Snowboard Cross outside of North America. In ''Tour'', the name is DK Summit regardless of region.[[/note]]. |
| 641 | ** Rosalina's Ice World in ''7'' and ''Tour''. |
| 642 | ** Mount Wario, Ice Ice Outpost, and Animal Crossing (Winter) in ''8''. |
| 643 | * SmugSmiler: Metal Mario in his promotional art. |
| 644 | * TheSmurfettePrinciple: Peach is the only playable female character in the first three ''Mario Kart'' games. Averted from ''Double Dash'' onwards which introduced Daisy, Toadette and Birdo, with the former of the three never missing a single game ever since then. ''Wii'' also introduced Rosalina and Peach and Daisy's baby-selfs, ''7'' features [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy the Honey Queen]], ''8'' has Baby Rosalina and Wendy O. Koopa, and ''Tour'' has Pauline, Peachette and Dixie Kong, with the former two being added to ''8'' as part of the ''Booster Course Pass'' DLC. |
| 645 | * SocializationBonus: In ''7'', if you get a [=StreetPass=] tag of someone using a kart element (chassis, tires, or glider) that you don't have, the Mii in question is included in your current GP, and you win the GP, you get one of the elements that they had that you previously lacked. |
| 646 | * SongsInTheKeyOfPanic: Upon reaching the final lap, the fanfare sounds, followed by the music becoming faster. |
| 647 | * SpaceZone: Rainbow Road in ''7'' has part of the track on a rocky planetoid, while Rainbow Road in ''8'' runs around a space station. |
| 648 | * SpinoffBabies: Some games have baby versions of Mario characters as racers. No explanation is given as to how they're able to drive... Or why they're able to race with their adult selves. |
| 649 | * SpitefulAI: |
| 650 | ** If a CPU has an item, they'll almost always try to hit the player with it. |
| 651 | ** ''7'' takes it up a few notches by having the AI always drift into your path so they can steal every coin and item box in front of or your just bump you off the road. They even go out of their way to hit ''two'' item boxes so you'll be even less likely to pick one up. |
| 652 | * SpritePolygonMix: In ''64'' and ''DS''. In most games, the public is in 2D. |
| 653 | * StuddedShell: The Spiny Shell is a rather infamous weapon in the franchise for being a GameBreaker; a blue shell covered in spikes (sometimes with wings) that is inescapable, unblock-able and is designed to target whatever character is in first place. |
| 654 | * SuperDrowningSkills: Falling in water results in driving ''very'' slowly (''Super Mario Kart''), or you needing to get fished out immediately in subsequent games. The trope is disturbingly PlayedStraight on ''Mario Kart Wii'' where each character makes distressed muffled shouts as if they are actually drowning. This is averted in certain places in ''7'' and ''8'', where underwater can be an alternate route. |
| 655 | * SuperTitle64Advance: |
| 656 | ** Applies to every title in the series thus far except for ''Super Circuit'', ''Double Dash!!'', ''7'', and ''8''. [[note]] The Japanese name for ''Mario Kart: Super Circuit'' is "''Mario Kart Advance''", thus playing this trope straight in that language.[[/note]] |
| 657 | ** The retro tracks, rather than their game of origin, have their original console's initials at the beginning of their names. Tracks from ''Super Mario Kart'' have "SNES" or "SFC", tracks from ''64'' have "N64", tracks from ''Super Circuit'' have "GBA", tracks from ''Double Dash!!'' have "GCN" or "NGC", tracks from ''DS'' have "DS", tracks from ''Wii'' have "Wii", and tracks from ''7'' have "3DS". Averted with the city courses from ''Tour'' in ''8 Deluxe'', as they use "Tour" as a prefix. |
| 658 | * TakeTheWheel: The main appeal of ''Double Dash!!''. If two players are playing together, they can swap places and let the other player take control of the wheel. Also used in the game's ad, with two old ladies in a security cart. |
| 659 | * TempleOfDoom: |
| 660 | ** DK Jungle from ''7'' features a brief trip through the Golden Temple from ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns''. ''8'' takes the track a bit further, as the track inside the Golden Temple is sloped, bordered by torches, and turned into an anti-gravity section. |
| 661 | ** Thwomp Ruins in ''8'', overlapping with RuinsForRuinsSake. |
| 662 | * TheBusCameBack: Every time a character comes back after being absent in previous installments, such as Koopa Troopa in ''Double Dash'' and ''Wii'', Toadette and Waluigi in ''8'' or even Bowser Jr., King Boo and Dry Bones in ''8 Deluxe'', plus Diddy Kong, Birdo, Funky Kong, Petey Piranha and surprisingly Donkey Kong Jr. (in his 16-bit appearance) in ''Tour''. |
| 663 | * ThirdPersonSeductress: ''Wii'' introduced motorcycles to the series; equipping Peach (and her metallic variant), Daisy, Rosalina and Pauline with a bike causes them to wear a body-clinging suit instead of a frilly dress (which would be very impractical to wear on a bike). [[VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosUDeluxe Peachette]] is this as well, only that instead of wearing a suit she uses a variation of her regular dress, having a shorter skirt and wearing a pair of high boots. The trope is especially prominent in ''8,'' where the female bikers begin each race standing up straddling the seat, waving their behinds toward the player before Lakitu begins the race countdown. The motorcycle suits also feature heavily in the promotional artwork for ''Wii'' and ''8''. |
| 664 | * TitleDrop: |
| 665 | ** The titular maneuver in ''Double Dash!!'' is a stronger variant of the rocket start that can only be achieved by two players working together. |
| 666 | ** ''7'' has the Lucky Seven item, which gives the player seven different items to use: a Mushroom, Green Shell, Red Shell, Bob-omb, Banana Peel, Super Star, and a Blooper. Additionally, one of the kart bodies available to unlock is named the Blue Seven ([[SigilSpam complete with the 7 logo on its spoiler]]). |
| 667 | ** The first track of ''8'', Mario Kart Stadium, does this for the entire series. ''8'' also features the Crazy Eight item, which adds a Coin to the Lucky Seven's arsenal, and the Mach 8, one of the default kart bodies. |
| 668 | ** ''Tour'' takes you to race tracks inspired from real world cities. Rather than Grand Prix mode from previous games, the game features "tours" which change every two weeks. |
| 669 | * ToiletHumour: Wario's horn in ''8'' sounds like a fart. |
| 670 | * TooAwesomeToUse: Since the Super Horn is the only item that can destroy Spiny Shells and is fairly rare to get while in first place, people in the lead are naturally hesitant to use it on the more common Red Shells. |
| 671 | * TooDumbToLive: |
| 672 | ** It's a good thing Lakitus are standing by, because any of the courses without guardrails is a walking deathtrap. And yet, the cast insists on racing through it. |
| 673 | ** Almost any of the Rainbow Road courses -- fall off and, well, experience re-entry velocity. |
| 674 | ** [[EpicFail Using a Spiny Shell... When in first place.]] |
| 675 | ** Grumble Volcano (''Wii'' and ''8'') is a trek through a volcano ''mid-eruption''. The course segments actually crumble as you race through. |
| 676 | * ToyTime: GBA Ribbon Road in ''8'' has racers drive through a child's bedroom filled with toy hazards. |
| 677 | * TronLines: Various places in Neo Bowser City, as well as on the kart wheels in ''8's'' anti-gravity mode. ''8's'' Electrodrome course even has lightcycle-style trails following the karts and bikes on some sections of the course. |
| 678 | * TruckDriversGearChange: |
| 679 | ** In every installment since ''Double Dash!!'', the course music goes up in both pitch and tempo. Prior installments and the first two arcade games [[note]]which instead utilize truncated versions of their respective courses' music[[/note]] averted this, simply opting for a tempo increase. |
| 680 | ** In Baby Park from ''Double Dash!!'', the music starts in F major, then goes up a half step every few bars. In ''8'', it goes up and speeds up with ''every lap''. |
| 681 | * TrueFinalBoss: Mission Mode of ''DS'' has a Wiggler as one. |
| 682 | * UnderTheSea: |
| 683 | ** ''7'' introduces underwater areas. Cheep Cheep Lagoon and Wario's Shipyard are mostly underwater. |
| 684 | ** Dolphin Shoals from ''8''. Notable for being the first course in the series to ''start'' underwater. |
| 685 | * VariableMix: |
| 686 | ** Starting from ''Wii'', the menu music starts off simple and ambient and becomes more lively as the player confirms their settings. |
| 687 | ** In ''7'' and ''8'', the percussion of the course's song gets deeper if the player is in the lead. ([[EasyModeMockery Unless you're playing on 50cc]].) |
| 688 | ** Additionally, certain tracks in ''Wii'', ''7'' and ''8'' feature multiple mixes of the music playing, with the music seamlessly switching between them depending on where you are in the race. Some variations are minor (such as Toad's Factory adding a clapping track to the music when indoors; Shy Guy Falls and Wii Wario's Gold Mine add the sounds of mining equipment and chanting Shy Guys when near the mines). Others can completely change the tone and/or instrumentation of the music (like Dry Dry Ruins using a completely different instrumental when you are inside the temple; or Water Park's music becoming calmer when underwater). |
| 689 | ** Cloudtop Cruise in ''8'' has its music change genres depending where you're at in the race. Outside of the thunderstorm, it's an orchestrated song. Inside the thundercloud, it's a heavy metal guitar. |
| 690 | ** Super Bell Subway's music becomes more subdued and includes the underground theme from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' when inside the subway tunnel. |
| 691 | ** The Animal Crossing track in ''8'' has four variations that depend on the course's season. In Spring, it's the main theme for ''Animal Crossing''. In Summer, it's the second half of the main theme for ''Animal Crossing: New Leaf''. In Autumn, it's the main theme for ''Animal Crossing: Wild World'' and ''Animal Crossing: City Folk''. In Winter, it's a medley of the music that plays on Christmas Eve and the 7 PM theme in ''Animal Crossing: New Leaf''. |
| 692 | * VictoryIsBoring: You could drive the best you can and try and maintain first place... But then you won't get to use the most fun and powerful items. Because of this, many players like to hang back occasionally so they can get the best items, and then use them to get into first place when they need to. And, given how being in first place makes you a target for said items with limited means of defending against them, this isn't as bad of a strategy as it first seems. |
| 693 | * VideoGame3DLeap: ''64'' added depth to the flat Mode 7 courses of ''Super Mario Kart'', but used 3D pre-rendered sprites for just about everything besides the actual maps. ''Double Dash!!'' was the first fully 3D game in the series. |
| 694 | * WackyRacing: To the point that the game becomes part racing game and part vehicular combat game. The series is also the TropeMaker for many others like ''VideoGame/KonamiKrazyRacers'' (which actually preceded ''Super Circuit'''s release on the GBA) and ''VideoGame/DiddyKongRacing'' (whose title character would be integrated into this series in ''Double Dash!!''). |
| 695 | * {{Wutai}}: |
| 696 | ** Dragon Driftway in ''8''. |
| 697 | ** Bon Dance Street and Omatsuri Circuit in ''Arcade GP DX''. |
| 698 | * YourSizeMayVary: |
| 699 | ** In a few cases, spectator characters are usually made (especially in the case of ''8''), a hair larger than the drivers, which is most evident with the Toads in ''8'''s Dolphin Shoals and Rainbow Road, where the Toad spectators are bigger than the main Toad. |
| 700 | ** A strange example in ''Wii'' comes with Waluigi. He's as skinny as a rake, yet is classified as heavy due to his height. The same reasoning puts Rosalina in the Heavy class; despite being possibly as much as 7 feet tall, her body type certainly doesn't make her comparable to behemoths like Bowser and Donkey Kong. This is possibly the reason ''7'' and ''8'' introduced a Cruiser class for these characters. |
| 701 | ** ''7'' adds ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''[='s=] Queen Bee as playable characters. In the original game, she was large enough that Mario was able to crawl on her body; in ''7'', she's one of the smaller heavyweights and doesn't even reach Bowser's size. |
| 702 | ** Also in ''7'', a small Wiggler participates as a racer. In ''Wii'', giant Wigglers stomp around on Maple Treeway at the top of the tree, and ''Mario Kart DS'' featured a huge one as the FinalBoss. What makes this even stranger is that Maple Treeway returns in ''7'' as a retro course, Wigglers and all! |
| 703 | ** Petey Piranha in ''Double Dash!!'' He's a heavyweight character, but he's nowhere near as big as he was when he appeared in ''Super Mario Sunshine'' (or his guest appearance in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'', even). He is however the largest playable character in ''Double Dash!!''. |
| 704 | [[/folder]] |
| 705 | ---- |
| 706 | ->''"Hey, you're pretty good! See you next time!"'' |
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